


Magic Boys of Midgard

by Neon_Noir



Series: Magic Boys of Midgard [1]
Category: God of War (Video Games)
Genre: Boys In Love, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gay, Kissing, M/M, Original Character(s), Parent-Child Relationship, Slow Burn, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-08-18 20:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16523777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neon_Noir/pseuds/Neon_Noir
Summary: After the events of taking his mother's ashes to the highest point in all the nine realms, Atreus and his father returned home closer as father and son. Atreus however wanted something more, the boy wanted a friend, and he hoped to find one in the new town that had sprang up on the oceans shore.





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> My friend https://archiveofourown.org/users/gmartinez12/pseuds/gmartinez12 wrote me a story about Atreus and an original character I used for him to be a love interest. I just felt like Atreus could use a friend his age, there were literally no other children in the game, and I also headcanon him as gay. Of course Santa Monica most likely won’t make Atreus gay, so I have to do it myself.  
> The story I’m writing will be a bit different from the one https://archiveofourown.org/users/gmartinez12/pseuds/gmartinez12 made, the two may meet and interact in different ways, the build up of their relationship will take longer, and I’ll depict both of their home lives a bit more.

Ever since the events of the previous month, when Atreus and his father went through to take his mother’s ashes to the highest peak in all the nine realms. Their way there was not easy however. The two had met gods who wished to kill them, gods Atreus had only heard of from the legends his mother told him. To contrast they’d made friends with dwarves, spirits, monsters, and even the wisest man alive.They’d learned many things and become closer as father and son. Truly, it was an adventure Atreus would cherish until the end of his days. Nothing however could prepare Atreus for what would come next for him.  
As the dust and smoke settled following the battles Atreus and his father had with the other gods, a new village had begun to reclaim the base of the mountain. A ways away from where the two lived, people had begun to take up new residence. Further by the shore of the ocean, where Jörmungandr had moved to reveal the bridge to the world tree, fishermen and trader boats could be seen.  
People were starting to live there.  
Atreus wanted to see. Just for a moment to meet other people, other mortals that he could just talk to. The boy’s want for social interaction could be easily explained of course. Living his whole life with just his father and mother, he never had friends, at least not those of children his own age. His parents valued their privacy, privacy they seeked through solitude. Now Atreus understand why his mother Faye had refrained from exposing themselves to the world. The giants of Jotunheim where sought out by the Aesir.Those gods would’ve done whatever it took to get their hands on a giant, and that was something Faye was not willing to give them the chance of.  
Still however, Atreus wanted to meet more people. When he met Brok and Sindri, he was so happy to meet more people, but they weren’t interested in becoming friends with a snot nosed demigod. Freya was nice, but after Atreus and his father killed Baldur, it didn’t seem like a good idea to go knocking on her door anytime soon. Then there was the smartest man (somewhat) alive, Mimir.  
The taking head was great in conversations, something Kratos didn’t much partake in. Mimir would tell Atreus stories and lore about the gods, the nine realms, and many legends of the world all together. Answering what ever questions the curious boy asked him was something Mimir never got tired of. Honestly, Mimir liked having someone with a genuine thirst for knowledge yearn for his answers to their questions, an upgrade to Odin and Thor asking everyday where the giants hid themselves, or when fimbulwinter was to start. Nope, now Mimir had a starry eyed boy asking why trees lose their leaves in the winter.  
But still, Atreus wanted something, someone his age. He loved Mimir and his father, spending time with them is something he enjoyed everyday. Mimir and Kratos were old men, they didn’t have the same sense of humor, curiosity, or excitement that someone of 12 winters would. For these reason Atreus came to a conclusion : tomorrow, he’d go to the market, after asking his father for permission of course.


	2. Getting out of the house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Atreus wants to get out of the house on a journey to the new town at the ocean's shore.

“Mimir?” Atreus was sat outside their cabin home. A small bench rested the young boy and beside him sat the severed head of a man.  
“Yes little brother?”  
“What are towns like?” Atreus asked. He was fiddling with the straps around his shoes, tying and retiring them into complex knots.  
“Curious to know what other people are like?” Mimir questioned.“They can be full of lots of different kinds of people las. With a market to buy and sell goods, there’s lots to do and see within a town” he continued.  
“Do you think there would be nice people to meet in the new town at the edge of the ocean? Could the people there be nice?” Atreus seemed more shy as he continued to ask more questions. Tracing shapes into the snow and dirt, he avoided making eye contact.  
“Well I suppose, but the only we can find out is to actually go there.Going to a town would be a nice change of pace don’t you think?”  
“Can we really go?” The boys eyes seem to sparkle when he asked if travel to the new town would be possible. It was definitely clear that he wanted to go visit a town.  
“If you were to just ask your father than I could take you on a day trip to the town if you’d like.” Mimir continued “ I’m sure he’d let you go if you wanted to”  
“I don’t know about that Mimir” Atreus looked at the ground sounding dejected.  
“Have you asked to go to the village before?” Mimir asked.  
Atreus paused for a moment. He didn’t think about asking his father if he could go yet, the man valued privacy and solitude. Kratos was also not the most friendly to the people they met along their adventure. The boy just assumed that his father would say no to visiting towns of any sort.  
“No … “ Atreus said softly under his breath.  
“Well that doesn’t do you much good. You should ask him, he may surprise you” Mimir attempted to give the boy confidence.  
Just then, Kratos emerged from some of the trees from the far side of the cabin. Holding the thick trunk of a tree, Kratos walked past Atreus, and towards the pile of firewood next to the house.  
“Grab your bow and wears boy. We will go out into the forest to practice combat.” Kratos gave a command to his son while he place the tree next to the rest of the fire wood. Later he wood cut and stack the wood for later kindling.  
“Yes, Father” Atreus grabbed Mimir’s head and went inside inside the house to prepare for his day of work with his father.  
“You had a chance to ask him then” Mimir commented.  
“I’ll ask him tonight. Once we’ve finished training for the day” Atreus responded. Pulling over metal armour pieces over his red tunic, Atreus readied himself for a day of difficult combat training. His bow went slung over his shoulder, his knife in a holster on his lower back.  
“I’m ready to go” Atreus stepped outside the house and greeted his father. The large man was chopping wood, but then turned towards his son.  
“Where are we going?”Atreus was adjusting the strap of his quiver on his chest. Uncomfortable equipment could be one’s death on the battlefield Kratos once told him. The same day Atreus needed new shoes, his at the time were becoming too small, and Kratos could tell in the way Atreus walked and ran.  
“The dwarf Sindri told me of a large boar that prevented him from acquiring the resources of a cave. We could use the meet to feed ourselves for quite a few days.” Kratos new how Atreus liked to help the dwarf brothers, but really he only wanted the pork.  
“Okay!” The three then set out for a wild boar. 

 

Returning home, they were carrying the large carcass of a slain boar. Atreus was the one carrying the body of the boar, Kratos trusting in the strength of his son to carry a his own killed game. Though, Atreus’ eyes could barely see over the body of the animal in his arms. Opening the door for the boy, Atreus turned to the side so he could properly fit inside the cabin with the boar. Setting the boar onto the table, Atreus began to stretch his arms. Sore from the work out, the boy knew he’d feel greater pains in his arms in the morning.  
“Tonight I will teach you how to butcher a fresh boar” Kratos walked towards the shelves on the walls of the cabin, taking out three knives of differing lengths and even some large bowls.  
Already covered and sweat form the days exercise, now the boy and man were covered in blood from the boar all the way up their elbows. Atreus more so than his father had blood all over the front of his tunic as well. Nonetheless, Atreus had successfully separated the organ from the muscle meat, from the bones and the intestines. Even the hide was properly taken off and set outside for tanning.  
“You’ve done well Atreus. Butchering meat is not as simple as you’ve made it seem.” Kratos congratulated his son on his talent to prepare meat for cooking and storage. A gesture that Atreus appreciated.  
“Now’s your chance little brother” Mimir said as the two were whipping blood from their hands.  
“Chance for what head?” Kratos asked with his deep voice. “Boy?”  
“Um … I was wondering if we could go to the new town by the ocean’s edge? Just for a day, to see what they’re like down there?” Atreus was a bit shaky with his words, slipping in his speech.  
“I do not plan on going to any town within the future” Kratos answered.  
“Oh …” Atreus said under his breath.  
“But you are welcome to venture there on your own. Be that you take the head with you as well” Kratos continued.  
“Really?” Atreus’ eye had a sparkle in them as his father said this. He expected his father would say no and that he’d not be able to see the town. But now, he knew he was allowed to go, and better yet, his father trusted him enough to go on his own. With Mimir of course, but still.  
“Yes. No clean up so we may eat.” Kratos began to roast some of the meat over the fire as well brew some of it into a stew with winter vegetables. Atreus put the bowled meats into jar and pinned some of them up to dry. Later that evening, the three enjoyed a meal of roaster boar feet, snout stew.  
After bathing, the two went to bed, Atreus very much exhausted from his long day of working, but he was so excited for what tomorrow had, he had trouble falling asleep.


	3. Let's go to the beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of things to do when there are more than just 5 people to talk to.

Atreus stood above his bed, three colored tunics laid freshly cleaned in front of him. His head tilted to the side, the boy was spending his morning deciding which color he desired to wear to the market.  
“Should I wear the teal one or the blue one?” Atreus asked Mimir.  
“What about the red one, it’s your favorite color.”  
“But I wear red all the time … but I do like the way it looks.”  
“You are spending a lot of time dwelling on your appearance,” Kratos commented while equipping armor for his legs and across his boots.  
“You’re right. The red one looks the best,” Atreus grabbed the red tunic and pulled it over his head. Above that was his wolf’s skin vest to keep warm. Next was the hand-me-down scarf from his father that he tied around his waist and stomach. Atreus did not want to wear full armor to the market, Mimir told him it would put people on edge, make him stand out. Instead he only wore the fabric portions of his equipment.  
“Do not forget your-“  
“-knife and bow,” Atreus interrupted his father, finishing his statement for him.  
Atreus placed his knife in a holster on his lower back, attacked the clip on his quiver over his chest, and his bow slung over his shoulder.  
“You know your way to and back from the port-town?”  
“Mimir knows the way there, and I can easily find my way back home from anywhere.”  
“Aye las, the town is just a short whiles walk from where we are.” Mimir assured Kratos that they would not become lost.  
“And if anything happens, you come back here as quickly as you can.”  
“Yes father, I know.” There was a hint of annoyance in the boy’s voice.  
“And you are to be back here before-”  
“-Before the sun dips below the mountain, not before sundown”. His a hand on the doorknob, Atreus was opened the door and stepped outside the house. Mimir’s head was tied to his waist just as his father did on their adventures, though the head did look bigger on him that it did on his father.  
Walking down a path into the forest, Atreus was nearly out of sight when he heard his father’s loud voice.  
“Boy!”  
“Yes?!”  
“Acquire me some mead while within the market!” Atreus caught from behind a small sack of hacksilver.  
“500 hacksilver.”  
“Should be enough to by a few pints of mead, as well as a snack for yourself young brother,” Mimir commented.  
“If you say so,” Atreus shrugged while putting the allowance with the rest of his own hacksilver, and further he walked down a path into the mountain’s forest.  
The two were walking on a path in a cove, below them water from the ocean reflect light onto them. A deep teal green flooding the scene, glowing wiggles on the cave walls dancing with the movement of the waves below. Filling up the quiet space, the two were chatting about an old story tale.  
“So then she and the dwarves just start living together?”  
“Aye, all seven of the dwarves see the young girl as a sister, and they allow her to live with them.”  
“What next?”  
“One day and an evil old hag comes to the house and offers the girl and basket of apples in exchange for letter stay the night.”  
“Why did she need to stay the night?”  
“Because of the freezing cold rain of course. But when the young girl took a bite from one of the apples, she collapses and dies.”  
“What, why?”  
“The old hag was jealous of the girl’s beauty and decided to poison the apple. With the girl now dead, the dwarves attempted to seize the old hag, but all they could grab was an empty cloak. The hag was gone.”  
“How did she just disappear like that?”  
“Magic, las, magic. The dwarves, stuck with grief, had to bury the girl deep with the forest, and on her grave, beautiful flowers began to grow. But just then-” Mimir was cut off when Atreus heard a sound from the distance.  
“Do you hear that?” Atreus ran quickly towards the mouth of the cave. He stood upon the top of a hill and could see over a lively town below. From even at the top of the hill he could hear the crowd of peoples’ voices, see buildings of different sizes, huts and tents. On the far edges of the town he could see boats and people moving boxes and barrels from the docks.  
“There’s so many people!” Atreus ran down the side of the steep hill, nearly slipping a few times with because of snow and rocky path.  
“Careful little brother, you wouldn’t want the first thing you do here to be twisting an ankle.”  
Atreus found himself on a path of matted dirt and stones placed deliberately, tightly together. Many people were walking by and not giving mind to the child who just ran in from with the forest.  
“You there! Boy in the red!” A voice came from his left and Atreus turned his head. Raising an eyebrow, he pointed to himself.  
“Yeah you!” Atreus walked towards a man standing under a tent, a fire grill burning under him.  
“Can I interest you in some freshly grilled salmon?” Handing Atreus a fish on a stick and the man smiled at him.  
“That’ll be 25 hacksilver,” the vendor said.  
“Be sure to pay him las.”  
The man looked for an adult behind Atreus, but he say no one there.  
“Where did that voice come from?”  
“Right here” Atreus gestures the hip Mimir was hanging off of.  
The man however did see anyone there and simply raised an eyebrow.  
“Uh, ok … Whatever you say kid.”  
Atreus shrugged his shoulders and walked away, the grilled fish in his mouth.  
“That was kind of weird.” Atreus words were muffled by the salmon in his mouth. Walking further down the town’s main street, Atreus came upon a building with a sign that showed the rune for “Restaurant”.  
“What’s a Resters-Aunt?”  
“It’s a place where you pay to eat like a king. Or so they all say. Do you wish to go inside?”  
“Sure.”  
Walking inside the building, Atreus was greeted with the loud chatter of a crowd of talking people. Tables full of women and men eating, children playing games on the edges of the rooms, and bar counter with lots of men drinking the day away.  
“Best two outta three!”  
“Of course you’d want a rematch after how badly you lost yesterday!”  
“Only because you guys cheated!”  
“You think we cheated just ‘cause you lost 14 to 0!”  
Atreus heard from his side an argument between two groups of children, but their yelling was interrupted by a man standing behind the bar counter.  
“Hey, why don’t you kids take that outside?! Causing all this noise indoors!”  
The groups of children began towards the door, still holding up their verbal dispute with each other.  
“Well why don’t we have a rematch outside?”  
“Can’t, Aval isn’t hear today, he’s out fishin’ with his dad. We don’t have even teams.”  
“Well why don’t we use that kid over there?” One of the taller boys pointed to Atreus who was standing in the door. Atreus pointed at himself, a gesture asking if the crowd meant to identify him.  
“Me?”  
“Yeah you.” Atreus was drug outside the building where he followed the other kids to an open field in between some other building in the town. The groups of kids had a feud that they wanted to settle with a harmless game of football.  
“You know how to play football?” A girl from the group Atreus was drafted into was the first to speak to him directly.  
“Well, I’ve never played before.”  
“It’s easy all you have to do is kick the ball into the other team’s goal.”  
“Goal?” Atreus raised an eyebrow.  
The girl pointed to the far end of the field where one of the kids was placing two sticks into the earth. She then gestured the end of the field they were standing on, another goal made from two sticks was placed there as well.  
“You can’t use your hands, only your feet, and maybe your head. Make sense?”  
“Yeah! Anything else?”  
“Not really, just that you’re on the red team while we’re the blue team.”  
Atreus took attention to the fact that she was wearing a blue tunic under a fur hood as she walked away with a dozen other kids. Each of them wearing a blue article of some sort. He walked towards the other half of kids, they all wearing a red piece of clothing as well, a lucky coincidence that Atreus didn’t choose to wear a green tunic this day.  
“Wait a second. I gotta put my stuff down first.” Atreus ran toward the side of the building that boarded the field. There he placed Mimir’s head and his bow, a place he was sure he could see no matter where he was in the game.  
“Getting ready for a fun game of ball the other kids little brother?”  
“Yeah Mimir, can you watch my stuff while I’m over there?”  
“Of course, I can’t see myself doing anything else right now anyhow.”  
“Thanks Mimir, I’ll be back in a bit.”  
For the next few hours Atreus had a great time playing a simple time of football with the other town kids. Making sure not to use too much of his strength not to kick to ball to the other side of the beach, Atreus still hit it hard enough that some of the other kids preferred to duck for cover rather than try and stop it.  
“Man that kid can kick” They’d say. He even heard a few “He’s cute too” from some of the girls playing the game too. Words that made Atreus blush a little, but the redness the frost biting air gave his skin hid his embarrassment. Just because he was a god, didn’t mean he wasn’t shy around compliments. Atreus didn’t mind how long the game went on for. Each side always ending a round with an argument about how the winning team cheated. They just played more and more, but he was just happy to be playing with other kids. He wanted to play more, but he saw that the sun was approaching the peak of the mountain.  
“I gotta go you guys” The other kids responded to Atreus with voices of protest.  
“C’mon kid, we still got lots of daylight left.”  
“Yeah, but my day said I gotta be back before too long. See you guys later” Waving away, he ran to where he left Mimir and his bow. Mimir had been sleeping when Atreus got back, and as he put his bow around his shoulders, he woke Mimir up.  
“Mimir, it’s time to go” Atreus was tying the head to his waist. He began towards the edge of the town where he’d left the cave. Getting through the crowd was a bit rough, the larger bodies of adults made it hard for Atreus to walk through. Many people running and bumping into him was annoying too. When Atreus reached the base of the hill to the cave Mimir reminded him that he still had yet to buy mead for his father.  
“Don’t you still have to by that mead for your father?”  
“You’re right. I almost forgot Mimir.”  
Turning back around into the shore-town Atreus went to the first drinks shop he could find. The tent was occupied by a man with a beard and apron, his belly big and round.  
“How much can 500 buy me?” Atreus asked the man standing behind a wooden counter.  
“I think what I sellin’ is too strong for you boy.” The man responded.  
“It’s not for me, it’s for my father. How much does the mead cost?”  
“50 hacksilver for a 2 quarts.”(edited)  
“Can I get 200 worth?”  
“That’s a lot for one man to drink, you sure you can carry all that?” The amount was quite a lot, but the weight wasn’t much for the junior god to hold, his father also would’ve been done with the mead within the month. The man handed Atreus the four gallons of mead in a sack with 4 large jars, and the boy easily slung the weight over his shoulders.  
Before Atreus turned around to leave the town he bumped into a member of the crowd behind him. Quickly he apologized, but no one was there. Taking no mind, Atreus continued to his way back out the town.  
When Atreus reaches the top of the him for the final time he check the sack of hacksilver his father had given him to see how much change he had left, he noticed something awful. His face went ghostly white as he felt his around his right side. The holster on his lower back with his knife was gone. The worst kind of anxiety washed over him as Atreus searched for his the arm his father had given him.  
“What’s wrong little brother?” Mimir could see the worry in the boy’s face, sensing that he was about to break down.  
“I lost it! The knife isn’t here! How could I be so stupid as to lose another knife?!” Atreus had begun to tear up.  
“What if it was stolen?” Mimir tried to offer alternate causes for the knife’s absence.  
“Stolen?! Stolen?” Atreus left the sack of mead jars on the ground of the cave and ran to the tunnel’s exit. Looking at the town below, scanning the people for anyone who looked out of place. He eyed the people, washing his eyes up and down the swarm of people in his eyesight, when he saw someone. A cloaked figure he saw navigating through the crowd darting his head back and forth around him. Atreus knew who he had to follow.  
The thief was walking through the woods away from the village when they heard something in the bushes. Quickly they turned their head to observe a rabbit coming from a brush behind them. A sigh of relief escaped their mouth before they were tackled to the ground.  
Atreus easily pinned the thief to the ground with his superior strength. When fighting enemies with his father, his small size was always a disadvantage, only ever being useful for when he’d choke-hold a draugr from its shoulders. The wrestling training from his father proved useful for the tasks of restraining, especially because he was dealing with someone his own size.  
“Where’s my knife?!”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The thief grunted.  
“Where is it?!” Atreus only gave the thief enough air to give a response.  
“Here, just let me go” They gasped when Atreus loosened the grip on their throat. Freeing one of his hands the grab the thief’s wrist to prevent an attack, his other hand pinned their arm behind their back.  
“Ow ow ow!” The thief’s voice sounded weak beneath almost like the pick-pocket was a child too. I’d give context to their small body, miniscule strength, and high voice.  
Atreus quickly got up and away from the other child.  
“Why’d you steal my knife?”  
“Cause I know what it is and where it’s from.”  
With that last statement, Atreus simply reacted by running away. The thoughts of someone recognizing that he was a god flamed his mind. What scared just as much as encountering a potential messenger of the Aesir was what his father would say when he found out. Kratos trusted Atreus with going to the town himself, but now, the stupid boy had let someone who knew he was a god see them.  
“Wait, you don’t have to run!’ the thief yelled out to Atreus from the distance.  
“I got my knife back.” Atreus greeted Mimir. Anxiously tying Mimir to his waist, slinging the sack of mead jars over his shoulders.  
“Everything all right lad?”  
“Yeah.” Atreus sharped back.  
“Are you sure?”  
“ … no… “ Atreus whispered softly.  
“What was that little brother?”  
“No!” Atreus began to tear up once more.  
“Hey, hey Atreus. It’s alright”  
“No it’s not! The thief knew who I was. What if they’re a raven of Odin? What if --” Mimir cut Atreus off when he mentioned the glowing runes on one of his arms. In runes floating above his arm read I know why the knife’s special, but I won’t hurt you. See me same place at noon tomorrow.  
“Do you think they’re telling the truth?”  
“I don’t know las. Maybe we should tell your father?”  
“No. Can you please not tell him what happened? Help me convince him that I just want to go to the town tomorrow to play with the same kids tomorrow?”  
“Alright las, but just know he won’t like that.”  
“He doesn’t like anything,” Atreus quipped back.  
“Hello father. I’m back from the town.”  
“Are you of good health?”  
“Yes.”  
Atreus greeted Kratos as he entered the wooden home of theirs. Kratos was busy tending a fire for the night, keeping the home warm.  
“Your day was well?”  
“Yes! I played with some kids in the town. We played football, you know what it is right?” Atreus continued with telling his father for the rest of the night, only pausing to eat or breathe. The people he saw was what really had him excited that day, “so many different people” he’d say. It was unclear however how intently Kratos was listening to his son describe his day. For a parent, turning out your child’s daily rankings is something that’s just muscle memory. Tactfully, Atreus left out the part where he nearly lost his knife and when someone recognized him for his nature. The mead he’d brought for his father helped keep the man from asking further if anything went poorly. Eventually, Atreus asked if he could go back to the town tomorrow.  
“But you just went today.”  
“Yeah, but the kids there asked if I could play with them tomorrow, and I kinda said yes.”  
“If you wish to go, then you must complete 1000 marks before you leave, and 2000 when you return. I do not want you skills becoming dull from neglect at any point.”  
“3000?” Atreus knew 1000 would take him a few hours before he went to town, and 2000 would make him so tired at the end of the day.  
“3000.” Kratos asserted back.  
The very thought of 3000 made Atreus tired, but he couldn't help but agree. The thought of the town excited him and he was far too curious about what the other boy wanted. Regardless of what happened tomorrow Atreus knew one thing for certain, it would be an interesting day.


	4. Meeting the Thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Atreus takes himself and Mimir back to the town to confront the thief from yesterday.

Kratos walked out that morning to see his son hard at work targeting a red marked tree 100 meter west of the house. A pile of arrows laying at the feet of Atreus.  
“1. 2. 3. 4. 5.” Atreus counted as he releases arrow after arrow of perfect bullseyes on the tree in his vision.  
“How long have you been up, boy?”  
“Just a while.”  
“Your marks?”  
“573,” Atreus responded, his eyes staying hawked on the target.  
“Head?” Kratos wanted Mimir to confirm the boy’s words.  
“Aye, but I did lose track a bit after 500. The boy’s be at this since he could see at dawn.”  
Kratos was impressed with his son’s discipline, waking up before he was asked, and doing his work before Kratos was awake to remind him.  
“You are welcome to leave with the head when you’ve finished targeting for the morning.”  
“Yes sir,” Atreus responded as he notched another arrow onto his bow.  
“Head,” Kratos addressed Mimir.  
“Chaperone the lad’s trip to town? I got you covered.”  
Kratos grunted in response and walked off into the woods away from Atreus and the home.  
The sun walts towards the noon part of the sky when Ateus finally numbered 1000 arrows on his target. His arms were tired and sore, shoulders popping as he stretched and pulled his arms to relax them.  
“Great work Atreus. I’ve never known such archery in a child your age before.”  
“Thanks Mimir.”  
The young demigod tied Mimir to the belt on his waist and slung his bow to his back.  
“Have your knife lad?”  
Ateus held his knife in his hand and looked towards where he’d put Mimir.  
“Do you think I should bring it? What if that guy tries to steal it again?”  
“Well this time you are prepared for it. So I think you’ll be ok. Better to be able to protect yourself in close combat than anything else.”  
“You’re right.” Atreus placed his knife into its holster on his back, but this time, he also concealed the weapon more under his tunic.  
“Let’s get going,” Atreus tied Mimir to the right side of his waist and slung his bow over his shoulders. The two were ready for what lay ahead in the town by the ocean’s shore.  
Anxious from the encounter he’d had from the previous day, Atreus approached the town. Now he was watching every person around him, looking for the thief he’d seen the other day. Maybe the forest area? Atreus thought to himself. The possibility of the thief wanting to meet where they last saw each other was something he considered.  
The forested area was calm and quite. All there was to hear was the wind rustling through the pine trees.  
Atreus took his bow off his shoulders and readied it in his hands with a single arrow. His guard was up.  
“You know, I thought you were supposed to be bigger.”  
A quick turn had Atreus with an arrow aimed at where he heard the voice from. Ready to fire at who the comment came from, but Atreus was met with just more trees and snow. The soft crunch of snow under feet alerted Atreus to a person right behind, this time to his south side.  
Coming out from behind white birch trees was a small figure under a fur hood. Recognizing the dark fabric, Atreus knew this was the thief he’d met yesterday.  
“In fact, I’d say you’re a bit small,” the hooded figure said.  
“What do you mean small?” Atreus’ brow lowered in annoyance. Was this guy making fun of him or something?  
“I mean, that bow is a bit big on you. Don’t ya think?”  
“So?”  
“So?” The thief reflected back.  
Atreus kept his bow angled at his chest, he was starting to get more frustrated with how he was being talked to. The condescending voice not doing well in keeping his bow from releasing the arrow.  
The person’s face being covered by a mask still allowed fog to rise from his face as he spoke. His emerald green eyes looking calm as Atreus had a deadly arrow aimed between them.  
“So, what’s someone like you doing in Midgar? On this mountain scale?”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Atreus was getting nervous, but he hid it well in his voice. He was growing anxious with every question the small man asked. Why was he so interested in Atreus? Did he know who, what, Atreus was? Was he a raven of Odin in a more human form sent to survey the area for the tattooed man and boy responsible for the death of his kin? All these thoughts swirling in his mind as his arms began growing tired from holding the bow’s string back.  
“What do you want from me?” Frustration grew within Atreus’ voice.  
“You can start be telling me why Odin sent you.”  
“Sent me? Odin sent you to spy on me.”  
A misunderstanding? Would Atreus be lucky enough to meet someone who didn’t actually know who he was or was a server to the Aesir? But then again, why did he want his knife?  
“What’d you steal my knife for?”  
“I thought it was the only magic thing on you, but you got an aura all around you.”  
“So, you’re not one of Odin's ravens?” Atreus slowly lowers his bow, the thought of the person before him being someone he didn’t need to fear put him at ease. Only a bit however.  
“No. I got nothing to do with Aesir. Do you?”  
“No.”  
“Then what’s with all the magic all over you? Is it the bow, your knife, your clothes or—what the hell is that!?” The thief’s voice sudden raise in volume gave a spook to Atreus. What was he screaming about?  
“What?” Atreus responded.  
“Is that a head on your waist!?”  
“Oh him?” Nonchalantly Atreus untied Mimir from his belt and lifted his head to eye level.  
“How nice of you to add me to the conversation lads.” Mimir opened with a calm and reasonable tone.  
“And it talks?” He raised an eyebrow.  
“Instead of it, you can call Mimir, the smartest man somewhat alive.”  
“You have the head of Mimir!? How’d you get your hands on someone like that?”  
Atreus was prepared to answer his questions, when he instead decided to ask a question himself.  
“You’ve been asking me a lot of questions. Why don’t I ask you something?” Atreus paused for a moment, “like, what’s your name and who are you?”  
“My name’s Yukon, and I live in the forest of this mountain scape. You?”  
“Atreus, and I live in the forest of this mountain scape too.” The name was something new, Yukon, a kind Atreus has never heard before.  
Removing the mask on his face, Yukon showed his face to Atreus. He looked to be just as many winters as Atreus was, only he was just a bit taller. His skin was also an olive brown like color that did well to stand out against the usual pale faces Atreus saw in the town of people. It also made his eyes look even brighter too.  
Leaning his back onto a tree behind him, Yukon gave a sigh of relief.  
“So what’s your deal? What’s the Aesir want with you?” Yukon asked.  
“Well …” Atreus needed an easy lie quick, “I may have stolen the head of Mimir after Odin cut it off.”  
Mimir raised an eyebrow after hearing the story Atreus came up with for how he came to possess the man’s head, but he still played along.  
“Yup, the little bugger stole my head right from under the mad man’s nose.”  
“Stealing Mimir from the Aesir, that must’ve taken some guts, and it’s definitely the coolest thing I’ve heard this winter.”  
“What about you, why would the gods want to find you?”  
“They’re just after my magic and such.”  
It didn’t seem like the other boy was telling the whole truth, then again neither was Atreus. Feeling more comfortable, Atreus sat down onto a rock beneath him to relax.  
“So what kind of magic can you do?” Atreus asked.  
Yukon pulled an apple out of his coat and bit into it, at the same time held out another and offered it to Atreus. Tossing the fruit towards Atreus when it suddenly became two. Almost distracted by what he saw, Atreus nearly dropped one of the apples when trying to catch them. Mimir would fallen to the ground if his head wasn’t rested on the rock beside him.  
“How’d you?”  
“Would you believe me if I said magic?” Yukon responded.  
“Fascinating, is that some form of Vanir magic?” Mimir was also now curious as to the new boy’s capabilities.  
“Something else you might not have noticed is the ground beneath my feet” Yukon pointed to the soil that connected to his winter boots.  
The soil began to sprout with clovers and flowers as the snow was melted away with a foot of where the boy was standing.  
“So you can do forest magic and such.”  
“A little bit,” Yukon said while trying to hold back from over praising himself.  
“So what about you, got any special talents?”  
“I can juggle,” Mimir joked in, earning a laugh from the two boys.  
“Oh really, next you’re gonna tell me you can do a backflip too,” Atreus humored the head.  
“No, but I can do a headstand,” Mimir was two steps ahead of any jokes Atreus could think to make.  
“Wow Mimir, I didn’t know you were so talented.” Yukon has his hand over his mouth to contain his laughter.  
“I guess that just leaves you,” Yukon drew his attention back to Atreus.  
“You any good with that thing, or is it just for show?”  
“No, I know how to use it. I just need something to shoot at.”  
Atreus led Yukon out of the forest and into the town. There the two walked onto the docks where ships were coming and going into the ocean that morning. Beach had the town on one end and the other was full of more woodland area.  
“You see that white tree with the red leaves?” Atreus pointed to the opposite side of the beach which had a lone red birch outnumbered by dark green spruce.  
“What, you planin’ on hittin’ that from all the way over here?” Yukon teased. Atreus began to hear even more of an accent within his speech.  
“Hold this for me will you,” Atreus handed Yukon Mimir’s head and pulled his bow from around his shoulders.  
Pulling the bow string back with an arrow at its midpoint with swiftness, he fired an arrow that landed dead on the tree.  
“Ok, I’ll give you that, but why not try something that’s actually moving?” Yukon pretend like Atreus hitting a tree nearly out of visions distance was a small feat.  
What surprised Atreus more was when Yukon pulled his freshly fired arrow from seemingly his back pocket. It was like Atreus never shot the tree in the first place.  
“How’s about you hit-“  
“-How’d you do that?”  
“Just a bit of sleight of hand is all. Now, can you hit that fish?” Yukon pointed to the center of the bay where a trout had leaped out of the water.  
“Not a problem,” Atreus smiled as Yukon handed him back his arrow and pulled back the bow sting. Counting until just the right moment to fire, then snap. His arrow went straight through the trout while it leaped out of the water. To punctuate the event, a seagull swept down and snatched fish from the surface of the water.  
“I mean, it’s alright.” Yukon handed Atreus back the same arrow, this time the wooded shaft feeling slightly damp from contact with the sea.  
“Ok, ok, now how’s about you show me something?”  
“Somethin’? Like what?”  
“I don’t know, surprise me.”  
“Ok, but not here. I don’t want to draw any attention by using magic all around these humans.”  
“Humans?” Atreus questioned thinking he didn’t hear Yukon correctly.  
“I said people, who know what they’ll think if they see a bunch of runic magic goin’ all about the place.”  
The two walked across the beach and continued to talk with each other.  
“You know, you talk funny Yukon.”  
“Well you look funny,” Yukon retorted.  
“Well you—“ Atreus was cut off when Yukon stopped walking.  
“This is a good place to do it”  
“Good for what?”  
“Just close your eyes, you too Mimir.”  
Atreus and Mimir obeyed and shut their eyes. Hearing the cracking of branches and the sound of many woodland creatures walking through the snow made Atreus want to steal a glance at what Yukon was doing.  
“And no peeking.”  
“I wasn’t going to—“  
“You were too gonna peek”  
“I was no—“  
“Ok, you guys can open your eyes”  
Atreus and Mimir opened their eyes and where astounded by what they saw before them. All around them where dozens of animals that had glowing bodies.  
“Whoa! What are these guys?”  
“I haven’t seen anything like this in quite a while m’lad,” Mimir added.  
“Just a few spirits I asked to say hello. It even seems like a couple of them like you too,” Yukon pointed out how two large looking wolves made themselves very comfortable as they nuzzled up around Atreus.  
Their bodies glowing a light shade of blue, but upon a closer look, the seemed to be translucent. Atreus could vaguely see the ground beneath the wolves that stood at his waist.  
“Mimir, you think these are the same wolves I summon in battle?”  
“They just may be little brother. It’d give sense to why they treat you with such familiarity.”  
“Wait, you can summon wolves for attacks?” Yukon was again curious as to what Atreus was capable of.  
“Yeah, but they only last a few seconds at a time. Attacking a few enemies before disappearing.”  
Atreus began to pet one of the runic wolves, but his hand seemed to fall past the beast’s coat when his hand pressed to hard onto it. Gently, he was stroking the backs of the wolves.  
“What you’re doing is much cooler than that.” Atreus’ eyes sparked as he complemented the runic mage.  
“Oh, well it’s nothin’ much.” A light blush began to grow across the bridge of Yukon’s nose, hidden only by the redness caused by the biting cold.  
“Aren’t you both just so cute,” Mimir teases the two boys as they gave compliments to each other.  
There was a moment of awkward silence between the two following what Mimir has said, only to be broken by a sudden growl.  
“Oh,” Yukon was the first to speak, “you’re hungry, wanna go get somethin’ to eat?”  
“Yeah, of course.”  
The town contained a restaurant that served food fresh from the daily fishing, as well as produce traded with from the boats. That afternoon had the restaurant filled with many a people eating, drinking, and dancing.  
The large interior of the building had a two floors with fire lit torches giving light to the inside. The upper floor had a railing that lined the whole floor, allowing those above to observe the restaurant below. A bar on the far west end of the base floor had many a bottles of liquor, with adults sitting at the counter.  
“Let’s go upstairs.” Yukon led Atreus to the upper floor and the two sat at a small round table. The table placed near the railing allowing the two an easy view of those below. Yukon was the first to sit down. Atreus followed and placed Mimir’s head on the table. Talking off his bow and leaning onto the chair he sat of so he could sit more comfortably.  
“Aren’t you going to take off your hood?” Atreus wondered why Yukon still had his head covered like when he was outside.  
“Oh, yeah, that’s right.” Pulling the thick fabric lined with wool Yukon revealed what the rest of his hair looked like.  
Dark as the rich color of healthy spruce tree, and thick like wool. His hair was long and braided into many intricate knots, braids, and dreads. Weaved into his hair were many beads of vivid colors and even the feathers of brightly colored birds. Something else that left Atreus curious was the shape of Yukon’s ears. They were a bit shaper with a length that Atreus had never seen on anyone before. They two even had decorations, earrings of rare metals glistening in the light of the fires gave even more intrigue to their appearance. Helix and industrial piercings filled his ears.  
Atreus hadn’t realized for how long he’d been staring at Yukon.  
“Something wrong?” Yukon raised an eyebrow.  
“No, it’s nothing.” Atreus began to show a bit of embarrassment with the pink tint on his face. “Hey, this place is so cool. I’ve never seen so many people in one room,” he continued trying to change the subject.  
“Oh, then you lads should see the parties giants would throw. The mass of their celebrations was something rivaled be no other race.”  
“I’ve always wanted to meet a giant, I’ve even heard that a few are still in Midgard. I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance to meet one though.” Yukon looked Atreus in the eyes for a few seconds longer that gave Atreus notice. Almost like he was implying something.  
“Uh, yeah…I’ve never meet one either, but it’d be cool to meet one.”  
Before Yukon had a chance to speak again, a young woman in a short apron came to their table.  
“Hello, my name’s Korra, all be you’re server this afternoon. What can I get you guys to drink?” She spoke with a smile, hand both of them a sheet of thick paper. The pages having runes all over them.  
“Can I have a sweetened milk?” Yukon asked.  
“I’ll … uhh--”  
“He’ll have one too,” Yukon cut Atreus off.  
“What, you’ve never ordered at a restaurant before?”  
“Well, no. I’ve lived my whole life in the woods on the other side of the mountain.”  
“Well that explains why you smell like ripened mulch.”  
“Hey! I smell fine!” Atreus defended himself, his voice cracking.  
“Sure, to you maybe.” Yukon joked back.  
Korra returned with two drink in hand placing them on the table in front of each boy.  
“Are you two ready to order, or do you still need more time?”  
“Nah, we’re ready. I’ll have a grilled salmon, and he’ll just have the same.”  
“Spice or salted?”  
“One spiced, one salted.”  
“One spiced, one salted. Ok, I’ll be back with them in a short bit.” She finished taking notes on a sheet of paper and walked away.  
As the two waited for their food to arrive, they passed the time by talking about absolutely nothing.  
“Of course the shark would win. It’s both faster and its mouth is stronger. It would just bite the head off any enemy.” Atreus argued.  
“Yeah, but a shark would never be able to fight on land. The bear however can fight in water and on land.” Yukon reported.  
“That doesn’t mean it’ll win.”  
“It means it has more potential, it wins by ability.”  
“Bears can’t swim that good. A shark could just drag it underwater.”  
“Yeah, but the bear is bigger. A shark wouldn’t be strong enough to do that.”  
“Are you sure, sharks can get pretty big.”  
Before the two could continue with the argument, the waitress had returned with two plates of fish. Placing a fish before each of the boys.  
“Once you’re done, come over to the counter and pay for your meal.” With a smile she pointed to the end of the room, and walked away.  
“Hey, I’ve been wondering, why is it that no one seems to react to Mimir? Like, they never seem to even notice him.” Atreus asked Yukon.  
“Oh, that’s because normal people don’t see magical things the same way we do. It can take them a lot more to notice what’s going on. So something small like Mimir they won’t notice, but earlier when I summoned all those runic spirits; that would’ve caught their attention.” Yukon finished by taking a bite out of the steaming fish. Hot vapor being blown away before he took every bite.  
“That makes sense. Right Mimir?”Atreus included Mimir into the conversation.  
“I guess so, I’ve never been a talking head before, so I don’t have much experience with the subject. But I can say, whenever I’ve socialized with mortals, they don’t seem to notice my horns.”  
“Alright, then yeah Yukon is right.”  
Atreus stopped talking so that he could enjoy the salted salmon in front of him. He didn’t want it to get cold before he could enjoy it. He did pause, but only to share bites of the fish with Mimir, mysteriously the food never seemed to travel down and out his throat. Instead seemingly disappearing whenever he swallowed.  
“Mimir? If you not mind me asking, do you need to eat?” Yukon asked the severed head.  
“I don’t quite think so. I’ve gone many days without a thing and it has made no difference to me. I just eat for the taste is all now,” Mimir answered. “I guess you don’t feel hungry if you don’t have a stomach,” the head joked.  
“How is it that you became a severed head that speaks?” Yukon asked.  
“Well lad, my head was cut off by Oden. I guess the old gobber thought he had enough of me by that point. Fortunately for me, he regretted his decision and decided to bring my head back to life. Then this lad came up and snatched my from under the old man’s nose.” Mimir fabricated a new story of how he came to be in Atreus’ possession.  
“And what gave you the idea of stealing anything from the Aesir? Let alone the head of the smartest man alive?” Yukon turned his attention to Atreus.  
Unable to speak because of the fish in his mouth, he took a big swallow and responded.  
“Oh, I just wanted to have is knowledge myself, and stealing from the o-father of gods was real fun.” Atreus felt like Yukon was watching his body language more, looking for anything out of place. “I always did like a challenge too.”  
“So you stole him for fun, and that’s why the Aesir are after you?” Yukon question.  
“Yup, but why would they be after you?” Atreus asked back.  
“What do you mean?”  
“You thought I was a raven of Oden sent to find you, so why would Oden want to know about you?”  
“He thinks I might know a way to get to Jotunheim, and even that I’d know where to find any giants still in Midgard.”  
“You know how to get to Jotunheim!?” Atreus volume rose more than it should have.  
“No, and do you mind keeping your voice down?”  
“Then why does Oden think you do?”  
“I don’t know, probably because he’s just crazy.”  
“He definitely is, and there’s not much you can do once he suspects you of something.” Mimir added.  
“So what about your fa-“ The two spoke at the same time, but stopped to let the other go first.  
“You go first,” Atreus said.  
“What about your family, parents, got any siblings?” Yukon asked.  
“No, my parents only ever had me. My dad an’ I live out on the mountain, but he didn’t come to town with me because he doesn’t like people.”  
“Yeah? I don’t have no siblings neither, and my mom doesn’t like to come into the town either. What about your mom?”  
“She died just a little while ago. A bit before winter actually.” Atreus eyes the table more rather than looking into Yukon’s eyes.  
“I’m sorry about that. I never knew my dad, he died before I was born.” Yukon put his hand into the one Atreus had on the table. Feeling comforted, Atreus looked into Yukon’s eyes as they crossed their fingers together. Emerald greens eyes met with glistening blue ones.  
The stare would have lasted for a few moments longer if it didn’t generate a light wash of pink across both the boy’s faces. Quickly taking their hands back and diverting their eyes away from the others.  
“We’re pretty alike,” Atreus was laughing nervously, the blush still on his face.  
“Yeah, we are,” Yukon had a shy smile as he turned his eyes away. The rose tint on his face going nowhere.  
Mimir easily took notice of how the boys were reacting to each other. Taking note to remember it for later.  
“You think we should go and pay now?” Yukon asked.  
“Yeah, we go right over there right?”  
Picking up their plates and cups the two walked to a wooden counter with a man standing behind it.  
Greeting them, he said to put their dishes onto the counter.  
“Two salmon, one spiced one salted, with two medium drinks? That’ll be 500 hacksilver for each” The man eyed the plates and cups in order to tell what the boys had.  
They both placed a mixture of gold and silver coins onto the counter in front of the man. He counted to make sure they gave him the proper amount.  
“Thank you, and you kids have a nice day.” He spoke with a smile and greeted the other customers when Atreus and Yukon walked away.  
“Do what do you wanna do now?” Yukon questioned Atreus as the two exited the large restaurant.  
“What do you wanna do now?”  
Of course Atreus wanted to spend the rest of the day with his new friend, but he noticed how the sun was just about to dip below the mountain. Even though the day hadn’t ended, Atreus needed to go back home.  
“I’m sorry, but I gotta go home.”  
“Really, but it’s just the middle of the day?”  
“I know right, but my father wants me to go hunting before it gets too dark.”  
“I guess you can’t do anything about that. But, do you think we can hang out again sometime?” Yukon kicked his feet in the snow in shy disappointment.  
“Of course, but I don’t know when.”  
“Well then you can just take one of these,” Yukon picked up a small stone from the ground, and a pencil from his pocket. Etching the runes representing his name, he handed it to his friend. He would have done the same with another stone, but he stopped before writing on the small rock.  
“What’s wrong?” Atreus asked.  
“This is gonna sound weird, but uhh… how do you say your name again?”  
Atreus couldn’t believe how he hadn’t realized it before. He’d spent the whole day with a kid who didn’t even know how to say his name.  
“Oh, right. My name’s Atreus.”  
“Uh-true-uhs?” Yukon’s eyebrow raised.  
“No, A-trey-us.” The young archer corrected. “It can be hard to say I know.” Atreus then spelled his foreign name slowly so Yukon could write it on the stone.  
“So what do these things do anyway?” Atreus was curious to know what the stone were meant to be for.  
“Smash it when you know you can hang out, mine will break at the same time. It’ll let me know when I should come to town and see you.”  
“Where should we meet then?”  
“Where? Does the spot where we meet this morning sound good?”  
“Yeah, that sounds great.”  
“Awesome, well goodbye Atreus.”  
“See you later Yukon,” Atreus waved away at Yukon as he walked away, his face flushing more with pink. Atreus liked the way Yukon said his name and hoped to hear him say it again soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Try to image that Yukon speaks like a British kid from the US/American South.


	5. Yukon’s house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Atreus finds an opportunity to hang out with Yukon. They get to know each other much more this time around.

Atreus was walking through the path inside the cave back to his home, lost in his own thoughts about the day he’d had. Thoughts about the other boy he had met, what he was capable of, and how they’d got along that day kept running through his head. A feeling of relief also washed over Atreus, he felt calm believing that who he had met wasn’t a threat.   
Mimir, the smartest man alive, hung roped to the young boy’s waist and waited for Atreus to comment on what they had experienced. Of course, Atreus was too caught up with his own internal monologues to say anything.   
“So laddy, how did you like the new friend you’ve made?” Mimir was the first to speak.   
“He was nice wasn’t he? Hanging out with Yukon was so fun today.” Atreus responded.  
“It seemed like you two got together very well didn’t you?”   
“Yeah, I definitely want to hang out with him soon. I hope I can before too long.”  
“Seemed like he’d like to spend more time with you in the future as well.” Mimir took notice to how Atreus’ face took on a wash of pink.   
“I hope so, I wouldn’t want annoy him.”  
“I’m sure that he’s just as excited to see you, as you are to him.” Mimir assured, he wouldn’t want Atreus to be stunted by his own fear of rejection. The head didn’t want the boy’s first friendship to end poorly for any reason.   
When Atreus came within a distance where he could see his home, he looked up to the sky and saw that the sun was at its highest point in the sky. He was on time for when his father required his return.   
“Just on time for your archery training,” Mimir reminded Atreus of the training he had to do by himself. Kratos prescribed that Atreus finished another 2000 marks before the end of that day.  
“That’s right,” Atreus groaned, remembered the time consuming workout he had for the rest of the day.   
It was a while before Kratos had arrived back at the house, the sun had long since dipped below the mountain. A few rabbits with their necks tied together held in his hand. Atreus had finished his archery training and was chopping firewood.   
“You have finished all the marks I had asked of you?” Kratos asked the boy with a hatchet in his hand.  
“Yes sir.”   
“Good.”  
The man of few words went into the wooden cabin and out of sight of his son.  
“Why not tell you father of the day you had?” Mimir questioned.  
“He didn’t ask.” Atreus answered matter-of-factly. He punctuated his sentence by chop a log of wood down its center. He then took a pile of firewood into his arms and carried them into the house.  
Kratos was skinning the rabbits when Atreus walked in. He instructed Atreus to toss some wood to fuel the home’s fire and then join him in cooking that night’s supper.   
Atreus climbed up onto some of the shelves they used for storage and handed down jars of wild roots, spices, and vegetables. The ingredients were all dried and preserved for the winter season, gathered from foraging they’d done that summer and autumn.   
“How was your day within the mortal’s town?” Kratos broke his usual stoic silence.  
“It was good, meet a kid that was pretty cool.” Atreus omitted the fact that the kid he had met knew he wasn’t a normal mortal.  
“You've made friends with some of the other children?”   
“Yeah, I guess I did make a new friend,” Atreus was lightly blushing, but fortunately for him, he was turned away from the other occupants of the house. The low lighting of the home also did well to hide the pink tint on his skin as well.   
“The boy is quite the social butterfly,” Mimir chimed in, “Interacting with others comes naturally to him.”  
“Good,” Kratos enjoyed hearing that his son was getting along well with the people he had met. Of course, he did not show it in his face.  
“Um … when do you think I can go back again?” Atreus asked shyly.  
“I do not want you becoming too distracted with the new town of people.”  
“Oh, ok,” Atreus looked at the ground, he hung his head a bit in disappointment.   
“You may go again after just a few weeks of training,” Kratos continued.  
“Really?” Atreus’ attitude picked up.  
“Yes. But only after we’ve cleared the area around our home of enemies.”   
“Yes sir.”  
A few more weeks into fimbulwinter had passed. The days had begun to grow shorter, the night stealing hours that the sun would’ve used in the sky. Fimbulwinter nights where especially dark, only ever remedied by the sparkling night sky.   
Atreus prepared himself for bed after finishing his supper, when he asked his father if he could journey out to the town himself. Kratos agreed to allow him to go have another break, still he required that Atreus be back before sun down. This gave Atreus even less time to hang out with Yukon, the winter days becoming shorter did the opposite of giving more time.  
“I will be back before sun down.” Atreus agreed to his curfew.  
“Good, and do not forget to take the head with you as well.”  
“I’ll always keep an eye on the lad for you bother,” Mimir added to the conversation.  
With that they all fell asleep. Atreus was again excited for the day he’d get to enjoy with his new friend.  
The morning followed with a similar course of events. Atreus stood over his bed only half dressed, tunic of different color spread out before him as he decided what to wear. He had already worn his red tunic twice; that color was out of the question. It only left the choices between a yellow, teal, blue, or simple grey tunic.   
“The yellow one looks nice,” Mimir commented.  
“You’re right,” Atreus agreed and put on the yellow tunic to cover over his bare chest. He finished dressing himself when he pulled his wolf’s skin vest over his tunic for extra warmth. His bow and arrows went to their familiar positions on his body as he walked out the house.  
“You’re not forgetting your knife are you lad?” Mimir wanted to make sure Atreus wasn’t forgetting anything.  
“No I have it right here,” Atreus assured Mimir when he pulled his knife out before putting back away.  
“You remember how you were supposed to contact your friend? To let him know who were coming to meet him?”  
“Yeah, I do it with this,” Atreus pulled out the small rock Yukon had given him. The stone had the runes for the other boy’s name written into it. Atreus then proceeded to break the smaller stone against a bigger one. The rock shattered and the small fragments dissolved into a blue mist, and odious sign of runic magic.  
Atreus was all set to leave, and now he had let Yukon know that he wanted to meet him. He left very soon into the morning, just after the sun had risen because his father would not permit him leaving in the dark of the morning.   
The town was as lively as it was the previous times Atreus had come to visit it. Today however, he was not here for the town, instead Atreus needed to meet with a special runic mage in the woods at the edge of town.   
Leaves rustled and danced with the flow of the wind, the sun shined through the thick spruce leaves to light the ground below. Atreus looked around, but no one was to be found in his line of sight.  
“Guess who,” Yukon placed his hands over Atreus’ eyes in a playful attempt to blind him.  
“Is it Yukon?” Atreus played along, pulling away Yukon’s hand to turn and look at him.  
“How’d you know it was me?”  
“Lucky guess?” Atreus joked back.  
The two smiled at each other before exchanging a short hug, it had only been a few weeks since they had seen the other, but it felt like much longer. For some reason they just wanted to see each other all the more as the days passed.   
“So what do you want to do today?” Atreus wondered what his friend thought of doing for the day. “Do you want to go to the town restaurant for some breakfast?”   
“Well actually, I was wondering if …” Yukon pauses.  
“Wondering what?”   
“Wondering if you’d want to come to my house?” Yukon was a bit hesitant to ask his question.  
“Yeah, sure. I’d love to go to your home with you.” Atreus was excited, he had never been to a friend’s house before. Even though he didn’t know what to expect, he still was excited to spend time with Yukon.  
“Great, follow me Atreus,” Yukon had begun to lead Atreus away from the town, and the two continued on deeper into the woods.   
“You’re gonna need to stay real close for this part.” Yukon then look hold of Atreus’ hand with his own. “I don’t want you gettin’ lost out here.”  
Atreus blushed when Yukon intertwined their fingers together, the boy’s hand was warm and did well to keep Atreus’ from getting cold. It was also good that Yukon faced away from Atreus, the young archer’s face becoming pink was not something he wanted his friend to see.  
What confused Atreus more than his own reaction to holding another boy’s hand was the walking path they had taken. Yukon was twisting, turning, and even doing loops around some trees as they walked through the woods. The dark haired boy did all but walk straight through the area thick with trees.   
“Why are we walking like this?” Atreus asked.  
“It’s the way to my house.” Yukon responded as the two took a right for seemingly no reason.   
With a final left turn Yukon had ran them both into a cave entrance.  
“Watch your step Atreus.”  
There Yukon went again, saying Atreus’ name in a way that made Atreus feel like butterflies were flying in his stomach.  
The cave went on for a few minutes, Atreus tightened his grip around Yukon’s hand to make sure he wouldn’t slip on something he couldn’t see. He was however put at ease when Yukon would look back at him, his green eyes seemed to glow through the darkness of the cave.  
Atreus heard the gentle sound of birds as the two approached the mouth of the cave. The bright light of the outside a jarred Atreus as he had spent the last while in the deep darkness of the underground tunnel.  
“We’re here,” Yukon helped Atreus to step it if the cave, the young archer’s eyes took a moment to adjust to the light. When Atreus could see, he didn’t know what to think of what he was seeing.  
Just like the other day when Yukon summoned all those runic beasts, there were many spirits in the shape of animals roaming all around the area. Dozens of glowing birds, foxes, badgers, rabbits, and even a few elk, bears and moose; all translucent with runic energy. A large pond of clear water sat in the middle of all the runic beasts, the water glistening in the sunlight and right behind it was a cabin that looked built into the mountain side behind it. In fact, as Atreus looked closer at the edges of his surroundings, he saw how cave walls lined the entire area, and the sun was only able to pass through a large hole in a stone sealing.  
“Is this some kind of cave in?” Atreus was curious about the landscape Yukon’s home was built in.   
“Yeah, this place caved in a long while ago, good place to live since no one knows it’s here.”   
“What was with the path we took to get here?”  
“Oh that? That’s just a magic path built to keep anyone from just wondering in here without permission.”   
“So it’s like a protective stave?”   
“Yeah, just like that. Keeps the wicked dead like the draugr out, but the runic spirits have no trouble getting in.”  
With a closer inspection, Atreus could see that many of the trees had runes in a gold paint. Strangely, Atreus could not read the language they were written in, but he did feel like he recognized the writing system they were made with.   
“You got it” Yukon confirmed. “Oh, and you can take off your vest if you want to.” Yukon added, taking down his own hood in the process.  
Atreus hadn’t noticed before, but the cave in area was warm. Unusually warm, hot even, given the time of year, it almost felt like the summer months in fact. Atreus took his wolf’s skin pelt off and hung it over a tree where Yukon had also hung his hooded jacket.  
“I keep it warm in here for the garden. The plants I grow don’t do well in the cold,” Yukon gestured around to the many plots of soil that housed many plants of varying colors, shapes, and sizes.  
“You grow all these yourself?” Atreus asked.  
“Yeah, it’s just me.”  
“While that is impressive young lad, where are your parents?” Mimir asked, the sensible adult in him traced in his voice.   
“You already know about my father, but my mother…” Yukon trailed off.   
“Is she…?” Atreus was cautious with his question.  
“She’s not dead, she just… falls asleep for very long stretches of time. It can be from days to months at times.”   
“Oh.” It was all Atreus could manage to say.   
“It’s best to just wait it out, even if it does get a bit lonely without her to talk to,” Yukon finished.  
“I guess you’re right, but if you wanna talk to someone about it, I’m around to listen,” Atreus offered.  
“Thanks, but don’t worry, she always wakes up in just a while. All I have to do is be patient.”   
Atreus is could tell Yukon didn’t want to continue talking about it, then a sudden growl from his stomach interrupted the conversation.  
“You mentioned breakfast earlier, and you’re still hungry right?” Yukon led Atreus into the house. When Atreus walked in, he looked around and saw that the building’s inside looked like it was dug out from underground. The floor and wall were still wooden, but the ceiling was very much of stone and earth.   
“Are you allergic to anything?” Yukon brought Atreus to his kitchen and was went through his shelves. Yukon picked out jars of various sizes filled with roots, and beans.   
“No, and do you want help with anything?” Atreus asked.  
“Yeah, can you go out and fill that with water?” Yukon pointed to the black iron pot rested above a dead fire.  
Atreus retired into the house with the pot filled with water and put it above the fire Yukon had just restarted.  
“What are you making?”   
“I’m just gonna scramble some eggs and cook some fish.” Yukon pulled out a basket filled with eggs, and cracked a few into a pan over the fire.  
“Then what was the water for?” Atreus placed the pot down next to the fire.  
“That’s just for later.”   
The eggs sizzled as Yukon cracked more eggs into the pan.   
“Go get some plates, they’re in a stack near the jars,” Yukon pointed in the direction of the kitchen.  
Atreus went to where Yukon had pointed and it only to a second for him to see a stack of wooden and clay dishware.   
“Do you want a plate Mimir?” Atreus asked.  
“I can cook you some, I don’t mind,” Yukon voiced from the other side of the room.   
“I’m good lads, this is your date after all, not mine,” Mimir joked.  
His humor was only met with the red faces of both the boys in the room.   
“If you say so,” Atreus said, trying not to think of him hanging out with Yukon as a date. The other boy only continued to fry the eggs for the two of them.  
They sat down outside Yukon’s home with a plate in each of their laps. They sat crisscross on the ground next to each other.  
“Atreus, can I ask you something?”   
“Sure, what is it?”  
“Are you… a god or at least not from this realm?” Yukon’s words hung in the air for a moment.   
The question gave Atreus a sharp feeling of anxiety, questions racing through his head. How could he have known? What else did Yukon know? Could he still trust the other boy?   
“I uh, I have to go,” Atreus jolted up, grabbed Mimir’s head, and ran out the way he came.   
“Wait, don’t go! You’ll get lost!” Yukon called out to Atreus, but the archer didn’t listen. Instead, running out the mouth of the cave and into the tree filled area outside.  
He ranks straight, took sharp turns, anything to put a bit of distance between him and Yukon.  
Unfortunately, Yukon was right, and Atreus was lost. Atreus walked, but after every ten meters, he always saw the same large rock with moss and flowers growing all over it. He had even turned around and still ran into the same rock, only in the opposite direction.   
“Mimir, what do I do?” Atreus’s voice was soaked with worry.  
“I’m sure that Yukon will find you, and help you out of this place.”  
“No, that’s not what I was talking about,” Atreus snapped back, “what do I do about Yukon knowing that I’m a god, father said not to just let anyone I meet know who-what I am.”   
“Well that is an issue, but what if he has good intentions. I mean, you two do have more in common than you may know. He’s not even from this realm.”   
“Not from this realm, what do you mean?”   
“The lad’s an elf. Couldn’t you tell from the shape of his ears? The magic?”  
“An elf, but what’s an elf doing in Midgard?”   
“I don’t quite know, I think you’ll have to ask him.”  
Speak of the devil and he shall appear, Yukon came from behind a tree.  
“There you are, I told you you’d get lost.” Yukon walked up to Atreus and grabbed his hand. “C’mon, let’s get you out of here.”  
“Wait.” Atreus protested. “Before we go back, I want to know what you know about me.”  
“I know that you’re a god because of the magic that radiates from you is like nothing that comes from a mortal man, and the runic wolves tell me you are not from this realm.”  
“That’s um…” Atreus didn’t know what to say.  
“I know why you didn’t want to tell me, you didn’t want to risk just anyone finding out who you are, but there’s something I could tell you. Just to make us even.”  
“What do you mean?”   
“I’m not a mortal either, not from Midgard either. I’m an --”  
“An elf, from Alfheim?” Atreus finished Yukon’s sentence for him.  
“Yeah, the ears are just a dead giveaway aren’t they? Good thing regular people can’t see them, just like they can’t see Mimir.”  
“Then what are you doing in Midgard?”  
“My mother escaped here, from other elves trying to kill her for her throne, and to hide from the Aesir. Oden wanted her for her magic.”  
“Her magic, what kind of magic could she do?”   
“She could craft new ways to travel between realms, bending the light of the great tree Yggdrasil. She was one of the people who crafted the unity stone for Tyr.”  
“You’re mother knew Tyr, so you guys are friends to the giants?”  
“Yeah, she was at least, I never knew any giants. I’ve only ever lived in Midgard. You’re the first giant I’d ever met.”  
“So you knew all along that I was a giant and a god?”  
“I did, and I was confused at first. The wolves told me you were a giant, the energy around you told me you were a god, but I still felt like you were a mortal. At first I thought I was going crazy.”  
“I have just one more question,” Atres said.  
“What’s that?”  
“Who’s your father? Is he just an elf like your mother?”  
“No, he’s a god. Freyr, the Vanir god of nature.”   
“So you’re a god too?”  
“Yup, just like you, but I still don’t know all of what I can do yet.”  
“Same, I hope that I can turn into an animal at least or maybe even fly.”  
“Turn into an animal? That’d be awesome!”   
“I know right?!”  
“As though you two couldn’t be more similar. Both a mix of gods and races not from Midgard, and to top it all off, you both are hunted by the Aesir.” Mimir chimed in, the tone of their conversation becoming lighter. “Next thing you know you’ll both be right handed and have summer birthdays.”  
“Are you right handed Yukon?” Atreus asked, giving into Mimir’s quips.  
“No, I write with my left, and I was born in the winter.”  
“I was born in the winter too! Twelve winters this winter.”  
“You’re joking, I’m twelve winters this winter too.”  
The two began to laugh at their many commonalities. To Mimir, the boys couldn’t be cuter, like to puppies that had just become friends. He also saw the potential of where their relationship could go, quietly hoping for the best for them.   
“Shouldn’t we be getting out of here lads?” Mimir asked.  
“It smells like there’s about to be a snow storm, I should get going home now.” Atreus added.  
“I wouldn’t want you to get caught in the snow. C’mon, let’s get out of here.” Yukon took hold Atreus’ had and lead him out of the forest maze. When they reached the port-town, they two parted ways. Yukon again gave Atreus a stone with his name written on it before leaving.   
On Atreus’ way home, he said something that gave quite amusement to Mimir.   
“Mimir, I think Yukon May have put a hex on me.” Atreus said.  
“What makes you say that lad, he seemed like a nice boy.”  
“Well, I always feel so, I don’t know. Whenever I’m around him my heart’s racing, but not like when I run, but like when I’m in danger, but not as bad. I can stop looking at his eyes. Then when he grabs my hand, I feel like I’m about to catch on fire.” Atreus would have went on for longer if he wasn’t interrupted when Mimir erupted into laughter.   
The head continued to laugh before he gave Atreus a response.   
“I think you misunderstand how you’re feeling about the boy. You may just have quite the crush for your new companion.”  
“What!? I don’t-“ Atreus’ face flushed with a pink color.   
“Nothing to worry about lad, I didn’t know what to do when I liked a girl when I was your age.”  
“What do you do when you like someone?”   
“While I can give you an answer, I think you should ask your father. This is something he should be the one helping you with.”  
“But, what do I tell him, that I have a crush on a kid who by the way, knows I’m a god and giant?”  
“Well, I suppose, but maybe you should try easing into the subject.”  
“I don’t know, what if he gets mad?”  
“He’s your father little brother, and even though he’s very rough on the outside, he cares about you more than anything else in the world.”   
“You think so Mimir?”   
“I know so. The man went to hel and back just because you were breaking a fever.”   
Atreus was filled with confidence from hearing the wise words of the smartest man alive. When he got home, he was going to tell his father what he had really done on his trips to town.  
Waking the same path for the last few days had given Atreus a sense of familiarity with the walking trail. Atreus had even cut the commute from over an hour to just over half the same time. He arrived home shortly before the storm outside had started.   
“He’s not home yet.” Atreus noticed that the house was empty.  
“Aye, he may be here shortly. Hopefully he doesn’t get caught up in the storm outside.”  
To occupy his time, Atreus started the fire in the home and drew with his journal. The young archer doodled pictures of himself with another young boy with sharp ear, and long hair. Unconsciously, he drew their names inside the shape of a heart.  
Atreus could hear the vicious winds outside the cabin walls, his train of thought was interrupted when his father opened the door and walked in.   
“You were not caught in the cold?” Kratos greeted Atreus.  
“I got back home a bit before the storm.”   
“Good.” Kratos shook the snow off his shoulder and out of beard. “Have you eaten since getting home?”   
“No sir.”  
“We will have a stew made from meat and dried ingredients.” Kratos pulled down some of the dried boar and wild vegetables they had hung from the walls. Another few hours later, and the two sag in front of the fire and ate their supper out of bowls. They stayed close to the fire to keep warm.  
“Father, can I ask you something?” Atreus slurping up the rest of the contents in his bowl before speaking.  
“What is it?” Kratos took Atreus’ bowl and filled it up again.  
“I, um …” Atreus hesitated as he tried to speak. “I wanted to know how to, um, tell a person that I like them.” Atreus took his bowl back from his father.  
“You’ve taken a liking to one of the mortals you’ve met in the town?” Kratos guessed.  
“Yeah, I have, so what do I do?” Atreus has grown a noticeable wash of pink over his face.  
“I think it would be wise for you not to seek interest with mortals, especially now that we are sought out by the Aesir. Simply letting you go to the town was already a risk.” Kratos didn’t want his son to be at risk because of a relationship with a mortal.  
“But, what if … what if he’s not a mortal?” Atreus asked.  
“Not a mortal?” Kratos was becoming sterner with his voice.  
“I mean, he’s not from Midgard. He’s an elf. From Alfheim.”  
“You risk company with someone who could be a spy to the Aesir?”   
“He’s not a spy though, he’s hunted by Oden just like we, and he’s not a bad kid either.” Atreus tried to defend is answer.  
“Does he know what you are, your divinity, your lineage of the giants?”   
“He does know I’m a god, and that I’m a giant, but he’s a friend to giants.” Atreus said. “His mother was an elf queen who helped Tyr craft his unity stone.”  
“It’s true brother, the was a story of an elf queen who crafted the light of the unity stone for Tyr, shortly after she disappeared never to be seen again,” Mimir jumped into the conversation.  
“Head, this does not concern you,” Kratos shushed Mimir. However the tattooed man did take what Mimir had to say into his thoughts.  
“If this boy is as you say he is, then I wish to meet him for myself. I will determine if he is to be trusted, myself.”   
To look on the bright side, Kratos was not nearly as mad as he could have been. Atreus still felt the talk didn’t go the way he wanted, he still had no idea how to tell Yukon of his feelings. At least his father hadn’t said that he wasn’t to like the other boy.  
“When do you wish to meet him?” Atreus asked.   
“I must think first, until then you are not allowed to go to the town.” Kratos responded. “That’s is the end of our discussion.”  
“Be prepared to go out for training tomorrow,” Kratos said later, before they fell asleep. The winter winds outside the house grew stronger. Atreus had a hard difficulty falling asleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how is Mimir able to see Atreus’ face, even though he’s tied to the boy’s waist you ask? Mimir has magic eyes, and that’s it.


	6. Meeting the Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary : Atreus has been away from Yukon for a few weeks, and wants to see him again. However, Kratos has not allowed Atreus to meet with Yukon and he fears asking his father, for fear of what the man may say.

The Frosted winds of fimbulwinter had done well to keep men inside for the past two weeks. Among those who stayed inside were Atreus, his Father Kratos, and the head of Mimir. Inside their wooden cabin, they waited out the lifespan of the current snow storm outside. With plenty of rations and fire wood to keep them alive, boredom would be the only difficulty of the weeks to pass.  
What bothered the youngest occupant of the cabin was the stiff silence between him and his father. For the days since Kratos had learn of the new companion Atreus had made in the town, Kratos had been quite. Atreus hadn’t done much to start conversation either, instead only waiting for his father to bring up the subject.  
Mimir could even sense the feeling in the air and chose to stay out if it. Atreus wasn’t his son and Kratos had made it clear before that he did not welcome the advice of others on how to parent his own child.  
One evening Atreus had enough of the suspense of waiting for his father’s response and finally brought up the subject of Yukon. The burning timber in the center of the home’s fireplace gave a gentle red glow to the room. Cracklings of wood was the only thing to be heard before Atreus started speaking.  
“Father? I want to talk about it” Atreus said.  
“What is there to talk about?” Kratos questioned back, his eyes not diverting from the sharpening of a knife with a wet stone.  
“You know what I mean. The boy who knows that I’m a god. My new friend from the town.”  
“Should I have been more clear that I do not wish for you to further interact with someone whom we cannot trust?”  
“But I—“  
“You have been careless. Too easily have you been to open you with someone you had only just met.”  
“But I know I can trust him. He’s just like me. We’re the same age, his father is a god, his is mother from another realm, he possesses magical powers, and his name is even hunted by Odin.”  
“It is true brother, the mother of this boy has the portfolio of creating the light of unity stone for Tyr. She is sought out by Odin, and Yukon is no different.” Mimir chimed into the conversation.  
Kratos did not want to take what Mimir had said into his own reasoning, but he knew that the head was too wise to lie to him. Mimir would also have no motive to lie on the behalf of the Aesir, but he did have the motives of being on Atreus’ side.  
“I have an idea.” Kratos said.  
“Yeah, what is it?” Atreus asked.  
“I will permit you to see this boy again, however I do wish to meet this boy before I decide whether or not we can trust him.”  
“Really?” Atreus had hope tinting his tone.  
“Yes. We will go to wherever it is that you meet him normally.”  
“I just know you’ll like him, he’s definitely someone we can trust.”  
“I know that you at least enjoy spending time with him.” Kratos added. “Tell me all that you know about him.”  
“Well to start off, his name is Yukon.”  
Atreus filled the rest of the night with a very in depth explanation if the new friend he’d met in town. He told his father about Yukon’s powers with runes, the maze around his house, and the warmth that existed only around his home. Kratos could feel that his son had quite the fascination with the other boy’s abilities. Help in great by how much Atreus simply wanted a friend his age. 

The next morning was bright and without the presence of any clouds within the sky. The day had promise and gave Atreus confidence for the events he hoped would unfold. Today Atreus would take his father to meet Yukon and prove that Yukon was no one to be untrusted.  
Atreus walked outside his home and his father soon followed him. The man squinted as he greeted the morning sun.  
“The sun is bright today.” Kratos said.  
“The sun is always bright.” Atreus chuckled at his father.  
Kratos lowers his brows in response to Atreus’ early morning humor.  
“How do you normally meet with this boy?” Kratos asked  
“Oh, I just break this, and he knows that I want to meet him.” Atreus pulled out a small stone from his pocket and dropped it onto the ground. When the rock was crushed beneath his foot, it turned into a blue dust blown away by the wind. “Now we just need to head over to the town to meet Yukon.” Atreus began towards the path into the woods towards the town by the ocean’s shore, while his father followed closely behind him.  
When the sound of chatter of grounds and the waves of the ocean could be heard, the pair knew they had approached the town. Kratos hadn’t been in a place of such high population in quite a long time, he’d nearly forgotten why he disliked them so much. But now, he remembered why he didn’t enjoys towns, cites, villages, or people in general.  
Noise.  
People were loud, no doubt about it, and Kratos had become rather used to the comfort and quiet tranquility of the forest that only he and Faye had lived in. Crowds couldn’t be more different. There were too many people to watch, too many who could have mal-intentions. The god hated how unpredictable crowds could be, not knowing where and when someone could strike made him avoid them for such a long time.  
Now however, things where a bit different. Kratos knew that he needed to change, for the sake of his son. He needed to make sure that Atreus could experience all manor of things so that when the boy comes of age he would be prepared for anything. Interacting with people was one of those things. Kratos had to be sure that his son would fall victim to relationships with mortals, or in this case, gods.  
“Where do we go from here?” Kratos had agitation in his voice.  
“Well normally he just finds me, it would help if I went to the forest outside of town.” Atreus lead his father through the town and into a woodland area to the far edge of the town.  
“You sure are early today.” A voice commented from within the trees above their heads.  
Atreus looked up and saw Yukon sitting on a branch several meters in the air, a leg dangling down and kicking at the air.  
“I know, we usually don’t meet until noon. I just needed come here before he changed his mind” Atreus gestured the man standing behind him with his thumb. Kratos only grunted with his voice in response.  
“This your father?” Yukon jumped down from his position in the trees and walked towards them. “He sure is big, isn’t he.” Even though Yukon was a few inches taller than Atreus, the Greek man was still well over two heads taller than him.  
Yukon however didn’t seem intimidated by the man’s large stature and moved in for a handshake with the other people. “It’s nice to meet you Foraker.”  
“Foraker?” Atreus was confused by the name Yukon address his father with.  
“It’s the name of a mountain in Alfheim, we use it to call men of tall stature. At least that’s what mother would say.” Yukon answered.  
“So he calls you a mountain, what a fitting nickname.” Mimir added into the conversation.  
“You are Yukaton, right?” Kratos address Yukon, but did not reach out his hand to greet with Yukon’s.  
“Father, it’s Yukon” Atreus corrected his father.  
“It’s alright Atreus, you got my name wrong the first time you tried to say it too.” Yukon did much mind that Kratos got his name incorrectly, he was used to people getting his name wrong anyway. “What did you want to do today?” Yukon asked.  
“I think my father would like to see where you live.”  
“Where I live?”  
“Yeah, so he knows where to find me when he wants to find me, when I’m with you.”  
“Sure, of course I’ll show him the way to my house.” Yukon started to walk away, and gestured for the pair to follow him. “Follow me you two.”  
When the the party walked for a about ten more minutes, Atreus could tell that they were getting closer to Yukon’s home, when Yukon took his hand into his own. Instinctively, Atreus intertwined his fingers with Yukon’s, and Kratos noticed how his son’s face began to glow with pink as he held the other boy’s hand.  
“Stay close Father.” Atreus took Kratos’ hand.  
Kratos was of course confused by the walking path. The seemingly unnecessary twists, turns and loops around around trees made the older man annoyed. Eventually they arrived at a small lake that was canapéd by dark spruce trees. Sun only snuck it’s way through a few slivers of space in the pine leaves.  
On the side of the lake was a small cabin built into the side a the earth. The area was unusually warm and many flowers grown around the landscape.  
“The air is hot here boy” Kratos commented on the unwinter like temperature out the canopy area.  
“Yukon uses magic to keep the area warm for the plants. It feels like summer doesn’t it Father?” Atreus explained the uses of magic that Yukon had to make the local environment the way it was.  
“Remarkable isn’t it brother?” Mimir said.  
“It does not suggest danger.” Kratos responded with.  
“Thank you?” Yukon was sure if it was a complement, but he was more sure that it wasn’t an insult.  
“If I needed to enter this area in the search of Atreus, how should I progress through the labyrinth that surrounds your home?” Kratos was quick to voice the questions he wanted to ask of new child.  
“The path is more of a muscle memory type thing, so I can’t exactly explain it too well. But If you’re interested, I could attach a spirit to you guys who would help you get through the maze without any trouble.”  
“You never offered me a summon that would guide me through the woods.” Atreus seemed jealous of his father more convenient access to his friend’s home than he did.  
“You never asked.” Yukon playful response stopped Atreus from continuing to be mad at him. “I’ll give you a summon to guide you through the forest if you want.”  
“I do in fact, maybe I’ll even take you to my house some day.”  
“No you will not.” Kratos interjected.  
“Don’t worry about him, he hates everyone, not just you.” Atreus didn’t want Yukon to feel like his father just didn’t like him. “Hey Yukon, I was wondering if you could teach me how to read in elven.”  
“You want to learn elven?”  
“Yeah, I just want to more know about you.”  
“Good enough for me, I’ll go get some books so I can show the basics of the alphabet.” Yukon walked into his house and was gone for a few moments.  
“So?” Atreus gave an expectant gesture.  
“So what?” Kratos responded.  
“What do you think of him, can we still be friends?”  
“He does not seem to be of any kind of threat to us, I sense no mal-intentions behind his actions.”  
“So you like him?”  
“I do not dislike him. He may remain your companion for as long as you wish.” Kratos allowed for the two to stay friends. The parent in him told him that if he didn’t let Atreus have such relationships in front of him, then the young boy would simply go behind his back. Now, Kratos at least knew what his son was getting into.  
Atreus trusted his father enough to ask for advice in relationships, so Kratos needed to have a bit of faith in his son to make some decisions. Kratos also knew that if Atreus were to become a man with no experience with others, then the boy would soon be hurt in the trials of relationships.  
“Atreus, you should—“ Kratos was cut off when Yukon came out of his house with a stack of books in his hands.  
“Ok, so I got some books that should help you learn to read and write in no time.” Yukon interrupted.  
“Awsome, let's go find somewhere to sit.” Atreus and Yukon went to sit under a tree that had enough light passing through the trees for the two to read.  
“Best If we leave the youngsters to themselves yea?” Mimir said once the two boys were out of ear-shot.  
Kratos sat behind a different tree and closed his eyes to sleep. From the distance he could hear Yukon saying small and simple words that Atreus would reply back to him.  
Kratos awoke after a few hours and was greeted with an adorable surprise. When he looked to where he’d last seen the pair and was greeted with the two sleeping with the company of the other.  
Yukon was resting with his back against a tree, Atreus had his head resting on Yukon’s shoulder as the slept in the light of the afternoon sun. A thick book laid still open in the middle of the taller boy’s lap.  
From afar Kratos could see that Atreus had a smile and a light wash of pink across his face. The other boy even had a bit of blush on him as well.  
“Must’ve been the relaxing heat and the light reading that put the boys to sleep.” Mimir said. “Cute aren’t they?”  
Kratos didn’t want to agree with the severed head on his waist, but unfortunately he did find the two boys sleeping together to be quite cute. Though he knew Faye would love to see their son making a friend.  
Kratos walked over to where the two where resting and gently woke them up. With only his voice in a kind tone, Kratos told Atreus that is was time that they leave.  
“You may meet with him another time, but for now we must return home before the turn of night.”  
“Yes sir.” Atreus yawned and whipped at his eyes.  
Yukon lead the father and his son through the forest that surrounded his home. Before they parted ways, Yukon gave a runic summon to each of them. The young elf was surprised to receive a hug from the young archer. Of course he returned the embrace back to Atreus before he retreated back into his forest, waving at Atreus as he walked away.  
“So…?” Atreus was the first to speak again when they were alone.  
“So what boy?” Kratos responded. He turned around and began to walk to their home, he avoided the town in favor of walking through the forest, and into the cave that lead to where they lived.  
“Do you think I could hang out with him again tomorrow?”  
“I think the lad has been indoors and around the two of us for long enough.” Mimir interjected. “Letting him off with a friend for another day would do him good.”  
“I’ll be back before sundown, like I always am.”  
“You may.” Kratos permitted. “I can trust you to go alone tomorrow.”  
“Alone?” Atreus repeated a part of what his father said.  
“You don’t need me go along with you again do you?” Mimir asked.  
“No, I’ll be fine on my own.”  
“Good.” The two men said at the same time. “You may leave when the sun rises, and you have completed your chores for the day.” Kratos added.  
Upon their return home, the sun was well past below the horizon. Starting as fire was the activity of Atreus, while his father prepared something for supper. 

The morning that followed had Atreus more excited than the previous. He put on his favorite red tunic and slung his bow over his shoulders. Atreus couldn’t wait for the sun to climb over the horizon, he’d already chopped all the wood, cleaned the clay bowls and wooden plates, and even hung out meat and wild vegetables to dry. All he had left to do is wait, and as soon as he could, he left. The older men not being awake to see him off, Atreus let them sleep in the morning.  
Atreus had now become somewhat used to the motions of traveling from his house, and all the way through to the entrance of the forest of Yukon’s abode. A familiar rock with the face of a spirit signified that if he were to proceed normally, he’d surely be lost again. Fortunate for home, Atreus had the one person who could guide him through come from behind him.  
Yukon greeted Ateus with a big hug from behind. Atreus forming impure thoughts as he felt the warmth of Yukon’s chest against his back. Unknown to him, Yukon was also having a more lewd imagination, he enjoyed the feeling of Atreus’ backside against his own lower half more than he should’ve.  
“It’s great to see you.” Atreus said.  
“I didn’t think you’d come back so soon.”  
“I just like visit you Yukon, if that’s ok.”  
“Of course it is, I don’t let many people in, so I always enjoy having you over.” Yukon let Atreus go, not wanting Atreus to feel his excitement. “Especially today.”  
“What’s so special about today?” Atreus was curious to know what made Yukon want to have him over on this day specifically.  
“It’d just be cool to have you come along with me to this place for a task I need to do.”  
“What do you need to do?”  
“There’s a spring that erupted just last night. It’s a magic one, and they only come out once a year on mountains like these.” Yukon and Atreus had already been venturing through the forest at this point in the conversation. “I need the water to help keep up the internal climate in here.”  
“How does water help you keep this place warm like the summer?”  
“Ehhhh, it only makes sense if you know vanir magic.”  
“Ok” Atreus didn’t really get how vanir magic worked and just assumed it was rather complex and confusing.  
When they came out the other end of the forest and into the area of Yukon’s canapéd home, the pair walked towards Yukon’s house for additional supplies. It wasn’t until Yukon reaches for the door with his dominant hand did he realize that they’d been holding hands well past the point in which they’d left the maze.  
Yukon took Atreus into his house and proceeded to finish preparing himself for the day he had planned. Atreus saw him tie charms for runic summons to his belt, and outfit himself with a hood that was of a darker color than the one he’d normally worn. The archer also took notice of how Yukon never seemed to have any armaments like he did.  
“How come you’re never cold without anything on your head?” Yukon pointed out how Atreus had never worn any kind of hat or hood to cover his head or ears.  
“I don’t much feel the cold.”  
“Neither does your father. He wasn’t even wearing a shirt, it must be genetic.” Yukon responded. “What, you’re grandfather just walk around naked all the time, nothing but a loin cloth if he felt a draft?”  
“I don’t know about that, but I guess we just warmer blood than you.”  
“Must be a giant thing, or are you gods of fire.”  
Atreus and Yukon has already left the house and were on their way to another end of the lake outside. Atreus noticed than Yukon pulled a satchel over his shoulders before they left.  
“Well, my father can use fire magic, but my mother was a fan of ice.”  
“So what’s your trick then? You can fly or something?”  
“I hope so, but I don’t know what my powers are yet.”  
Before they entered into the forest, Atreus wanted to ask if they could venture through the forest while holding hands.  
“You mind if we hold hands while we walk?”  
“Sure, I don’t see why not.” Yukon gave Atreus his right hand, his non-dominant hand.  
Atreus enjoyed how warm Yukon’s hands were, but more than that, he liked to just be close to him and have a physical connection as much as possible.  
“How far away is this thing?”  
“It’s not too far, it shouldn’t take past noon for us to go there and back.”  
“That’s good, my legs are already tired from walking here.”  
“How far is the walk from your home to mine?” Yukon started to feel bad for how far Atreus must be walking every time he want to see him.  
“It’s only a couple of hours from there to here. It be cool if there was a way did me to travel here faster than just walking.”  
“You’re right, would you like it if I just just set up a kind of bridge between my house and yours?”  
“A … bridge?” Atreus was confused.  
“I assume you have spruce trees around your home, if I were to go there, I could set up a shortcut that would connect the woodland areas that surround our homes. It be a path that only you and I would know how to navigate too.”  
“How hard would this be to make?”  
“Not very hard, I’d just need to have a bit of setup before then. No big feat.”  
“How long would it take me to con to your house at that point?” Atreus asked.  
“Only about a short walk, 10 to a quarter hour’s walk at the longest.”  
“I’d be that much shorter?”  
“Yup, then we could see each other all the time. Well, more so than we do now.”  
Atreus liked the idea of having a quicker access to his friend’s house.  
The pair of young boys would spend the rest of their peaceful walk making conversation about the different parts of their shared interest. That was, until they reached their destination.  
There was an issue however, dragr has taken a liking to the area around the spring Yukon talked about.  
“That sure is a lot of draugr.” Atreus commented. “I think I count 15.”  
“These wicked dead must be attracted to the properties of the water. You take the ones to the right, I’ll handle those to the left.”  
They both let go of the other’s hand, Atreus snuck around some rock to the right flank of the dead crowd. Yukon took himself behind some trees. Atreus was curious to see how the elf approached combat, he saw no armaments on Yukon, so he didn’t image Yukon to be very aggressive. Surprised as Atreus when he saw Yukon cast a spell that would cause a shower of viscous crows to attack the dead. The glowing birds swarming a handful of the draugr, leading nothing behind when they disappeared.  
To make sure to hold up his end, Atreus jumped from behind the rocks, and fired two arrows at the draugr. Both arrows hitting their targets, going straight through their heads. Atreus even jumped onto a third, stangle holding the enemy with his bow, before ripping it’s head off. The next few that came to attach Atreus were meet with arrows through what used to be their brains.  
Atreus ended up finishing the rest of the enemies off, Yukon was too caught up in watch Atreus to remember to fight.  
“Remind me to never get in a fight with you.” Yukon joked.  
“I’m sure I’d never have to fight you, plus I’d hate to fight someone I liked.” Atreus nonchalantly pulled arrows out of the piles of ash that were previously draugr.  
“I hope it won’t ever have to fight you either.” Yukon walked over to the spring with a clay bottle and began to fill it up with the freshwater.  
Yukon ended up filling multiple that he’d just put into his bag for later.  
“You’re ready to go?” Atreus asked.  
“Yup, and just before the spring ran stale too.”  
“Let’s he’s back then.” Atreus reaches his hand out for Yukon and of course Yukon gladly held Atreus’ hand as they walked.  
“How about we take a different path back, there’s a great view of a lake if we go this way.” Yukon took Atreus off the path they came from.  
“As long as we get to have lunch at some point, I don’t care how we get how we get back to your house.”  
“Are you hungry right now?”  
“Nah, I can’t last a little longer.”  
“Let’s find a place for us to set up a place to eat.” After they’d walked for a while, they’d found themselves above a large waterfall that emptied into a lake.  
“Woah look at this place.” Atreus was amazed by the giant waterfall that rushed down into a lake that was much bigger than the one around Yukon’s house.  
“Why don’t we go down there?” Yukon pointed to a small clearing that hung above a cliff over the lake. A non-lethal drop into the water below.  
There Yukon pulled about a towel from his bag and laid it on the soil and grass for then to sit on. They both sat down and Atreus waited for Yukon to do anything further. Atreus paid too much attention to the elf’s green eyes and olive brown skin that he didn’t hear the question Yukon asked.  
“What was that?” Atreus asked.  
“I asked if you’ve ever had rock candy before.” Yukon repeated.  
“No, what are those?”  
“Here, try some.” Yukon gave Atreus a hand full of candies that were the size and shape of marbles.  
Atreus didn’t know what to do with them, until he saw Yukon pop one into his mouth, and bite down onto it. He attempted to do the same with his own, but the candies proved too hard for Atreus to just bite into.  
“Ow!”  
“Are you ok?” Yukon’s voice was tinted with worry.  
“Yeah, those things were just harder than I thought.”  
“You can just suck on them if you’d like. They’re just as good of you just let them sit in you mouth.”  
“I think I’m good on them for now, you got anything else?” Atreus handed his remaining candies back to the boy sitting in front of him.  
Yukon took them back and poured them into a small sack that he put back into his bag. From the same bag, Yukon pulled out a box wrapped in a thin fabric. The box looking way too big to fit into the bag Yukon carried at his waist.  
“You know, I’ve been wording how you fit all those thing into that messenger bag of yours.” Atreus was curious to know if the seemingly magical properties of Yukon’s storage cases.  
“It’s kinda just connected to a room in the house, I pull things out of there, and put them in from this bag. The bag can fit anything that can get through the hole at the top.  
“You just keep having surprises don’t you?”  
“Pretty much, and I can bite into rock candy just fine.” Yukon said with an audible crutch to punctuate his sentence.  
“Well bit all of us can have jaws like a bear like you.”  
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you baby teeth.” Yukon joked back.  
“Weren’t we supposed to be eating?” Atreus diverted the subject to the lunch he was promised for the afternoon.  
“You right.” Yukon unwrapped the cloth that was around the boxed lunch he made for them.  
When opened up, there was an assortment of fish with bread and fruits. Cheeses and nuts also accompanied the food, along with a smell that was unfamiliar to the young archer.  
Was it some kind of spice? Atreus thought to himself.  
The eating went smoothly. Yukon and Atreus throwing playful banter and teasing back and forth between each other. It was only until Atreus had something on his face, did things start going south.  
“Atreus, you’ve got something on your face.” Yukon leaned in closely to Atreus and blushed something away from the side of his cheek.  
Atreus hoped that Yukon couldn’t feel how his face was heating up, when he did this. Yukon did however, notice the redness forming across Atreus’ nose and cheeks.  
“Atreus, are you ok? You seem a bit red.”  
“No, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”  
“Maybe it’s finally the cold getting to you, you ready to get going?”  
“Yeah, let’s head back to your place.”  
The two boys cleaned up after themselves. A few breadcrumbs and the peels of fruits being the only things they’d left on the ground. Yukon put everything else into his bottomless bag.  
“You ready to go?”  
“Mhmm” Atreus hummed, his mouth filled with bites from an apple. 

On their walking path home, Atreus was balancing on the lead of the walkway that had them suspended above the lake. Atreus wanted to walk at an elevated height, just so he could feel taller that Yukon for a moment.  
“Careful, or you fall down there, and I’m not jumping in frozen water to get you.” Yukon sounded like a mother advising her child playing in the yard.  
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Atreus replied.  
The conversation would’ve just continued with Yukon arguing that Atreus just get down anyway, if the very thing Yukon was cautioned for didn’t happen.  
Atreus fell.  
The archer lost a bit of his footing on some loose soil and gravel, a misstep that could cost him his life.  
The gravity snatched Atreus too fast for Yukon to catch him. Atreus fell into the water down below with a painful splash. The freezing water felt like a thousand knives stabbing into his body. That wasn’t the worst part however.  
“Atreus!” Yukon immediately yelled down. “Are you ok!?”  
“I-I can’t—“ Atreus could barely speak, the water filling his lungs and choking him. “Swim-I can’t swim!”


	7. Heating up by the Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Atreus falls into the frozen lake and things don’t look to good as the young archer doesn’t know how to swim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a spoiler, but this chapter get real steamy.

Water invaded his lungs and blocked his airways. He couldn’t breath and his vision started to go dark.  
Atreus thrashed around the water, tried whatever he could to stay afloat.  
The cold water was another challenge as well. It pierced his body like knives and acted as though it was strangling the boy’s body. Atreus only began to feel some sort of relief when his body began to feel numb. The cold cut off his circulation and stopped the pain.  
Then, Atreus heard a splash.  
Two arms wrapped themselves around Atreus’ torso and Atreus heard Yukon’s voice.  
“Relax and stop thrashing around.” Yukon attempted to grab onto Atreus, but Atreus unknowingly shoved him away.  
Atreus listened to him and tried to relax and just let Yukon help him.  
Yukon was able to swim them both to the beach of the lake and drag Atreus out of the water. Atreus through up the water and coughed uncontrollably to get the water out of his body.  
“Atreus, are you ok?” Yukon’s voice was worried.  
It took Atreus a few moments to calm down from his coughing spell to take in some deep gasps of air. He chose to nod instead of giving Yukon a verbal answer.  
Their clothes were wet and cold. The fabrics stuck to their skin, more than just uncomfortable, it was starting to freeze. The chill from the fimbulwinter air stoke the last bits of heat from their bodies.  
“We need to get out of here.” Yukon’s voice was shaken and jittery. “Back to my place as soon as we can.  
Atreus only nodded in agreement when he looked over to Yukon’s face. Yukon noticed the agitated redness on Atreus’ skin. The boy’s nose running with snot, and his eyes red as well. Teeth rattled like that of a children’s toy in the young hunter’s mouth.  
The walk back felt inevitably longer than the one the took to the spring. The only break they took was for Yukon to collect all of their possessions, the ones he dropped before he jumped into the lake to save Atreus. The each gave a sense of comfort to the other when they held hands. The walk back feeling just a bit more bearable with the other person being their.  
Yukon struck up conversation to distract from the cold.  
“Tell me more about the dragon that you saw at the mountain.”  
“It was so cool. My father was able to take it down by climbing into its mouth an ripping it apart from the inside.” Atreus responded.  
“Brutal. Then what happened?”  
“On his command I fired and electric arrow that blew up the magic inside its mouth. We both were the ones to kill it.”  
“A real dragon, I’ve only ever heard of them. Never got the chance to see one.”  
“I saw four while we explored the mountain. It wasn’t all fun though, they did still try to eat us.”  
“Makes sense. Tell me about the other three.”  
Atreus would continue to retell in detail the dragons that he’d encountered on the mountain. The latter three ending with their releasement rather than their deaths.  
They were struck with relief upon finally reaching Yukon’s home. When they entered the house, the water having dropped off or frosted on enough to keep the floor from getting wet.  
“Let’s get out of these clothes” Yukon left for his room and came back with a tunic that looked to be Ateus general size. “You should take those off and put this on.” Yukon lead Atreus to his room where he could change with privacy.  
Atreus came out the room with his wet clothes in his hands. He hung them above the fireplace where Yukon had hung his own.  
“Is this one of your tunics?” Atreus asked.  
“Of course it is, I’m the only boy that lives here. Good thing we’re the same size.” Yukon answered.  
Atreus liked the smell of the article. It was clean of course, but it still smelled of Yukon. The archer taking precaution not to let Yukon see him smelling his clothes.  
Atreus sat by the fire next to Yukon, the elf boy only wearing a pair of trousers and sitting with a blanket around his shoulders. Yukon offered the extra space in the blanket for Atreus to share. He even poured Atreus a cup of tea to help him warm up.  
There was still one problem however.  
Atreus was wearing clothing, but it was limited to just a tunic. The boy’s lower half still completely exposed and open for anyone to see. Fortunately for Atreus, Yukon’s taller height resulted in his tunic being big on him, the shirt stretched past Atreus’ thighs, and covered him up.  
“I’m sorry that you fell in. If we would’ve just gone back the way we came, you wouldn’t have nearly died.” Yukon apologized.  
“It wasn’t your fault. I was the one playing on the ledge.” Atreus shifted the blame to himself. “I got you into this, making you jump in to save me.”  
“Hey, I would’ve jumped in to save you no matter what. No doubt about it.” Yukon pulled Atreus into an embrace with his arm. The side hug warmed Atreus differently than the fire.  
For some reason Atreus would always feel so weird around Yukon. Nervous wasn’t the right word for it, though is was similar, but it didn’t feel bad like regular anxiety. Atreus felt like there were butterflies in his chest whenever Yukon was around.  
Atreus doubted that Yukon would put a spell on him at the start, later he’d just conclude that he simply liked the boy more than he did anyone else. Differently than anyone else. The kind of feeling his mother told him he’d have once he’d met someone special to him, she said he’d know it when it happened.  
Yukon was definitely that special person to Atreus.  
Faye has also told him that he should let the other person know how he felt when he felt it. That if he waited too long, they could be taken away be someone else. At this moment, Atreus knew he had to tell Yukon how he felt.  
“Yukon?” Atreus addressed his friend.  
“What is it? Something wrong?”  
“I wanted to tell you something, something that I’m pretty sure about.” Atreus could hear his own heart pounding in his ears. “I think I like you.” He finished.  
“I like you too Atreus, we’re friends aren’t we?” Yukon almost didn’t want to assume what Atreus was trying to say. He couldn’t mean what he thought he meant, could he?  
“No Yukon, I don’t want to just want to be your friend anymore. I want more than that.” Atreus began to draw his face closer to Yukon’s. An overwhelming heat flooded into his face and formed the redness on his cheeks.  
“Like what? What do you mean more than friends ?” Yukon wasn’t leaning away, instead his body saying something completely different from his words. Unconsciously, Yukon places his hands onto Atreus’ waist, and pulled him closer.  
“I don’t know what I want, but I do know that I want you.” Atreus leaned in and placed a kiss onto Yukon’s lips. A soft and quick peck on the mouth of the boy in front of him.  
Yukon of course responses by going on for another kiss with Atreus. The contact between them heating them up in ways that the fire could not. The two would only pull away to gather more air, before they would kiss again.  
It didn’t stop there. Atreus inadvertently pushed Yukon onto the floor and was laying on top of him. While too involved in the kisses they were sharing, Atreus had nearly forgotten how exposed his bottom half was at this moment.  
Yukon gradually slipped his hands lower down Atreus’ back. When Yukon’s hands found their way to the lowest part of Atreus’ back did things really get even hotter than the fire next to them.  
Atreus liked the way Yukon’s hand felt of his body, even though there was a thick layer of fabric in between the two of them. The tunic Yukon lended to Atreus was the only barrier between their chest, Yukon’s pants the only thing in between their lower halves.  
Atreus put his hands onto Yukon’s chest and was feeling up his torso. They both continued to maintain a chain of kisses. Yukon took his hands over lower down the body of the boy on top of him. When bare skin was what he felt, he realized then that Atreus wasn’t wearing any kind of bottoms.  
Atreus didn’t object, instead he arched his back unconsciously. They would’ve continued if Atreus didn’t feel like they were going to fast.  
He pulled himself away from Yukon and sat up, he now standled the taller boy, his legs around Yukon’s waist. They were so close that Atreus could feel Yukon’s excitement through his pants. The elf’s pants being the only barrier between their most masculine organs. Atreus didn’t even have the clothing on to pitch a tent. Yukon could easily see Atreus’ manhood if he simply angled his eyes down.  
Before Yukon could catch a glimpse, Atreus quickly pulled the hem of his tunic down, his face turned completely red with embarrassment.  
“Um, I think I need more clothes on.” Atreus suggested.  
Yukon took the hint and got up to check on their clothes drying above the fire. Atreus’ trousers and undergarments where had completely dried, his tunic and fur vest still retained some water. The thick fabric and wool held onto the water more.  
“These are dry if you want to put them on.” Yukon handed Atreus his clothes.  
“Thanks.” The archer slipped his undergarments on and pulled his trousers over those. He noticed that Yukon was had stolen glances of his bare legs the whole time, but he didn’t care much about Yukon’s eyes. Atreus did take notice to the way Yukon was looking at his face, his emerald green eyes made direct contact with Atreus’ own blue ones. “Is there something on my face?”  
“No, I was just looking at your freckles. I just noticed that they’re on your arms and legs too.”  
“Yeah, they’re just kinda everywhere.”  
“The one’s on your face are the cutest though.” Yukon stepped closer to Atreus again. He placed his hands on Atreus’ hips and pulled the boy in for another kiss. The height disparity made Atreus have to stand on his toes in order for his lips to meet Yukon’s. Something that made Atreus even cuter to Yukon.  
Atreus responded with just as much lust as Yukon was giving him. His back became more arched, his heart pounded faster as Yukon’s hands found their way back to Atreus’ lower back. The small of Atreus’ back felt like it was on fire as Yukon would sneak his hands under the tunic and onto bare skin.  
Atreus pulled away again for air and spoke. “Lower.”  
The two went back into the kiss and Yukon slipped his hands under Atreus’ pants and closer to the skin of his bare cheeks.  
Atreus quickly pulled away and spoke to Yukon again.  
“That's not what I meant. Outside the cloth Yukon.”  
“Oh, you mean like this?” Yukon took his hands out of Ateus’ trousers and grabbed at his backside again. This time, fabric being between his hands and Atreus’ bare skin.  
“Yeah, just like that.” Atreus had a blush on his face as he said this to Yukon.  
Had he really just instructed the other boy on how he wanted to be groped? Maybe so, but Atreus wanted to take things slowly, he just wasn’t ready to go that fast.  
Fortunately for Atreus, Yukon understood what Atreus was saying to him without words. That he wanted to take things slowly, that Atreus had a pace that he wanted to go at.  
“If we’re going too fast, we can sto—“ Yukon tried to speak, but he was cut off.  
“No-no, I want to keep going.” Atreus said. “I’m just not ready to go that fast.”  
“Maybe we should stop at this?” Yukon leaned in and gave a love bite onto the other boy’s neck.  
The action earned a soft moan from the archer. His eyes screwed shut from pleasure. Atreus had to return the favor, he stood on his toes and gave Yukon a hickey that matched in return.  
“Awesome” Atreus was in a state of bliss. It was however brown when he thought about what time it must’ve been. “Wait, what time is it?!” Atreus jumped away from Yukon and out of his house.  
“It’s just a bit past noon.” Yukon followed Atreus outside. “What’s wrong?”  
“False alarm, I just have to be back before I get back home before sundown is all.” Atreus responded.  
“That’s when your father wants you back?”  
“Yes, he doesn’t want me out at dark, so I promised I’d be back before then.”  
“Well what do you want to do before then?” Yukon approached Atreus from behind and wrapped his arms around the archer’s waist. His pelvis pressed into the the other boy’s backside.  
Atreus unconsciously pushed his body back into Yukon’s. “I don’t know.”  
“You want to pick up where we left off?” Yukon whispered into his ear, he nibbled on it too.  
“I think I want you to teach me more stuff in elven.”  
“Ok, I’ll get the book from the house.” Yukon began back towards his house. “Wait for me back where we were yesterday.”  
It took only a few moments for Yukon to come back out with books in his hands. He sat cross legged on the ground and faced towards Atreus.  
“Where did we leave of yesterday?” Yukon asked.  
“Can’t remember, I think we were still in the alphabet.”  
“Ok, do you remember the letters—“ Atreus interrupted Yukon.  
“Wait, can I sit in your lap for this?”  
“Yeah, sure man”  
Atreus got up to change positions, his new seat was now in the lap of the taller elf boy. The half giant’s butt well with the elf’s lap, Yukon unable to hide his excitement from Atreus, the taller boy’s length made its way in between the shorter boy’s bottom cheeks.  
“What were you saying before?” Atreus asked.  
“I … um, I was asking if you could repeat these letters for me?”  
Yukon would go on to have Atreus repeat letters after him. Yukon tried to ignore the lewd feelings he was having towards Atreus.  
Eventually Yukon gave into his urges and placed his hand onto Atreus’ crotch. He gently kneaded at Atreus’ most sensitive area. His actions earned him the soft moans from the smaller boy.  
“Can we go back inside for this.” Atreus managed to say between his heavy breathing.  
“Yeah, let’s go to my room, we can sit there.”  
Yukon and Atreus made their way to Yukon’s room inside the home. Yukon’s bed being the place he said they could sit down and continue.  
Yukon sat down first, Atreus positioned himself back into Yukon’s lap. He inches backwards more and more to press his butt into Yukon’s pelvis. Atreus could hear the young elf behind him gunt and his breathing become more labored as he did this. The archer wriggled around more, he could feel the other boy’s hardness through boy their pants.  
Yukon moved his hand back to Atreus’ crotch, he groped the boy more as he moved around in his lap. Yukon even sneaked his hand up and under Atreus’ tunic, a hand gently began to travel all along Atreus’ chest. For his third trick, Yukon kissed and sucked at the archer’s neck.  
All this was had begun to tip Atreus over his edge. Yukon played with his nipples, groped his boyhood, and even kissed at his neck. Atreus couldn’t help but moan in between his heavy breaths.  
“Ahh, Yukon. Don’t stop.” Atreus could nearly push out his words. The pleasure he felt for the other boy pushed him towards his climax.  
Yukon turned Atreus’ head to give the boy a lust filled kiss. That was the final straw that sent Atreus over the edge.  
The small giant let out a deep moan and his body shuddered. Yukon could even feel Atreus take in a swift gasp as he came.  
“Did you?” Yukon pulled his lips away from Atreus’. “Did you finish?”  
“Uh huh.” Nearly embarrassed to say it to Yukon, Atreus admitted that he had came in his own trousers.  
“Well … I um, didn’t yet.” Yukon avoided eye contact, his face flushed with pink.  
“Why don’t I finish you off like this?” Atreus go up from Yukon’s lap, and bent himself over the taller boy’s bed. His legs still stood up, but his torso was leaned forward.  
“You want to?”  
“With our clothes on, yeah” Atreus looked behind himself to see Yukon step behind him.  
The young elf gently gripped at Atreus’ waist. He pulled the boy’s butt towards himself, he pushed his boyhood into it at the same time. They began to move their hips together, an awkward rhythm showed their inexperience with the action.  
Yukon’s grunts and heavy breaths made audible to the boy underneath him.  
“Keep going, faster” Atreus said, his own voice between labored breaths.  
“Your butt feels so good Atreus.” Yukon’s last words before he spilled his own seed into his trousers. A deep moan just like Atreus’ escaped his mouth.  
Yukon softy let go of the archer’s waist. Atreus stood back up to, and was greeted with a kiss on his lips.  
“Was it good for you?” Atreus asked.  
“The best” Yukon returned the kiss, this time he grabbed at the shorter boy’s butt. “Your butt looks just as good as it feels.”  
“You’re a really good kisser Yukon, though I’ve never kissed anyone else before.”  
“I’ve never kissed someone before today either.” Yukon responded. “I’m glad that my first was you.”  
“Yukon?”  
“Yeah?”  
“What do we call this?”  
“This?” Yukon said back with confusion.  
“What are we, we’re not just friends anymore. We haven’t made love yet, so we’re not lovers. What are we?”  
Yukon didn’t know how to respond. It was a good question, but good questions are often the ones hardest to answer.  
“I think we can just say that we’re just together.” Yukon took a few moments to think up a response.  
“Together?”  
“Yeah, together. We’re not lovers, we’re not just friends anymore, and we like to be together.”  
“I guess it can work for now.” Atreus smirked.  
“For now?”  
“For now.” Atreus said back. “I don’t know when I want you to make love to me, but I know you want it to be soon.”  
“You know that you don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to. Yeah, I want to go further with you, but I want you to want it just as much as I did.” Yukon didn’t want Atreus to feel like he had to do things he wasn’t comfortable with yet, just for him. “I won’t enjoy it if you don’t.”  
“Ok, I won’t push myself to go faster.” Atreus agreed to stay at his own pace. He stood up on his toes and met Yukon’s lips with his. “I think I should get going before if gets to late.” Atreus added.  
“I’ll walk you out.”  
Atreus collected his bow and other armaments, before the pair made their way out of Yukon’s forest and into to the one outside the town. Atreus stoke another kiss before he left.  
“Bring me some pine needles and ferns from your forest when you come back!” Yukon yelled out before Atreus was out of the distance of his voice.

Atreus returned home on time as usual. He greeted his father an Mimir, before heading to bed for some much needed rest. However, before he dozed off he heard the deep, stoic voice of his father.  
“Boy, that is not your tunic.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic will only get more NSFW from here.


	8. A Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kratos has an important father to son talk with Atreus. The kind that no one wanted, but everyone knows they needed .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter this time around, but still one that I think has some important stuff in it.

Atreus’ eyes shot open with his sudden realization.  
“I… um,” he struggled to form a response.  
“Explain why your return has you in a different article of clothing that when you left,” Kratos commanded, he wanted to know why his son’s appearance was different to the one he had earlier. Kratos even noticed that the deep colored tunic that Atreus wore did not even fit him properly. The sleeves extended far past his wrists, the hem went to his thighs, and even the top of it was slipping down his shoulders.  
“The style of the fabric looks familiar though,” Mimir chimed into the conversation. “Could it be from your friend, the elven boy Yukon?”  
“Why are you wearing his clothing?” The tattooed man asked.  
“I-It’s a long story. We-I feel in a lake, Yukon saved me, I needed a change of clothes, so Yukon lent me some of his, and then I forgot to give it back before I came home.”  
“Whatever the reason, change out of it and into one of your own. Tomorrow you will have it cleaned, so that you may return it, and have your clothing returned to you.”  
“Yes sir,” Atreus obeyed, he pulled the dark colored tunic over his head and off his body. It then that Kratos noticed the love bites on the length of Atreus’ neck.  
“What afflicted you to cause those?” Kratos came at his boy with more of his stern voice. At first glance, the hickies looked to be bruises.  
“They’re-it’s not what you think.” Atreus fumbled around his words. “They’re from Yukon, n-not any enemy.”  
“He was the one to harm you?!” Kratos stepped closer towards the boy, his brow lowered, and his voice grew with anger.  
“No father, Yukon did not harm me, he would never.”  
“If I may interject brother, I do not think those marks are what you think they are,” Mimir made Kratos pause for a moment. The father then looked closer at his son’s neck.  
“Are these bites of affection?” Kratos asked, his words claimed down in tone. “They are from that boy aren’t they?”

“Y-Yes sir.” Atreus responded. The young boy grew nervous for what his father was to say next. “Are… Are you still mad?”   
“I was never angry, not at you.” Kratos’ voice had settled like the sea after a storm. “Sit,” Kratos said as he sat himself down on his bed.  
Atreus obeyed and he nervously sat on his own bed, his position faced across from his father.   
“I must speak with you, this conversation is very important.”  
“What’s wrong?”  
“You and that boy are growing to be more than friends. I believe that it is time I spoke with you about how you will experience love and relationships in your growing lifetime.”  
“But, mother already told me about love.”  
“Your mother told you things that you will be wise to remember. She however could only teach you from the perspective of a woman.” Kratos would start off by with the known conversation of the birds and the bees, he would then speak about the changes to his body Atreus would encounter within the soon years. “You will have thoughts and feelings that will start off foreign to you, but they are nothing to fear,” he would say. “I trust that this boy’s feelings for you are genuine, as yours are for him, but I think you are too young for a lover.”  
“Can I still go to see him? Do you trust us to be together like we have been?”   
“I will not try to limit your contact with him. I have seen how trying to control a child will only lead to their defiance. I do however believe you should take your time doing whatever it is that you are with this other boy. Do not for whatever reason allow him to push you into anything that you do not feel comfortable with.”  
“But, what about us being both boys? Isn’t it supposed to be a sign of weakness for a man to see other men as he should women? The most embarrassing for a father as well to have a son like that?” Atreus asked.  
“No. You have done nothing to shame or embarrass me. The gender of your lover will mean nothing to me, so long as they care for you, as you do them. In the land I used to call home, many men found themselves with male partners. It was custom, even in Sparta for a man to have another male as he lover so long as he still had a wife to bare children.”  
“Did you have any male lovers?”  
“Long before I met your mother, yes. But those times are far behind me.”  
“Oh, so do I still have to have kids, even if I don’t like girls at all?”  
“No, you do not have to give me any grandchildren if you do not wish to.” Kratos had his own personal differences between himself and his people.   
“Thank you father.” Atreus surprised his father when he suddenly jumped up and embraced him. The boy could hardly fit his arms around the larger man’s physique. Kratos responded by wrapping his huge arms around Atreus for a warm hug.  
The two would stay this way for just a few moments before pulling themselves apart. Kratos gave his son some encouraging words in the process.  
“You will always be the son of me and your mother. She and I will love you for who you are, not who either of us want you to be.”  
“Thank you father, that means a lot.”  
“Now, tell me why it is you came back with the boy’s tunic?”  
“Well, that’s a long story.”  
“I have all night.”  
“So I may have fallen into a lake. Yukon may have went in to save me, and were both wet upon our return to his house. We took off our clothes and set them over the fire to dry, Yukon lent me one of his tunics to wear while we waited,” Atreus explained, “and as you can see, things got a bit heated between us while we waited for our clothes to dry.” Atreus gestured at his neck, the side with the markings of affection on the side faced his father.   
“So you forgot to change your clothing back before your return?”   
“Yeah, I forgot that this tunic was his.”  
“Do you plan on returning it to him tomorrow?”   
“If I may go see him as soon as tomorrow, then I would return it to him.”  
“You may, and return before sun down as you always do.”  
“Yes father, I will.”  
The two prepared supper before they went to rest through the duration of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I headcanon that Kratos is bisexual. I mean, he’s a Greek hero/god, of course he was fooling around with both men and women. That’s not to say he wasn’t the faithful type, Kratos was definitely a one lady/one man type of guy.


	9. Swimming Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yukon teaches Atreus how to swim. Later the two take a few more steps into developing their relationship together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yukon pretty much looks like Sokka from ATLA (Avatar the Last Airbender) whenever Team Avatar would go swimming.

Atreus spent the next day doing laundry. He cleans both his own clothes, his father’s and of course the tunic he borrowed from Yukon. The archer also stole a bit of alone time to relieve some tension from his pants. Only when he was certain that his father and Mimir were inside a sleep for a but of the afternoon.   
The next day was when Atreus made his way back to Yukon’s house.   
“Out for another one of your dates?” Mimir teased Atreus as he was on his way out. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” The head laughed.  
“I’ll be back before sundown, like always.” Atreus closes the door and was off. He did remember to collect some pine needles and tree bark from the trees like Yukon said.   
Yukon meet Atreus at the mouth of his forest, and lead his boyfriend inside to his home.   
“I brought the tree stuff that you asked for.” Atreus handed Yukon the spruce samples.  
“Good, these are just what I needed. We can start working on that path now.”  
“How do we start?”  
“First we need to boil some tea out of both these and the pine from my forest. Next, we need to water spruce from both here and your forest with it.”  
“So I have to go back already?”  
“Not necessarily, the process of the with the trees needs to happen overnight.” Yukon explained. “Until then, we can just hang out for the day.”   
Yukon took the ingredients into his house and showed Atreus the process of boiling them together into teas. Yukon then took out the fresh hot water and left them to cool off.   
“Is there anything you wanted to do today?” Yukon asked.  
Atreus began to take on a familiar wash of pink onto his face. “Well … um, I was wondering if you could …” Atreus was embarrassed to say what was on his mind. “Could you teach me how to … swim?”   
“That’s a great idea. We can start as soon as we get to the beach outside.” Yukon took Atreus outside and too the shore of the lake around his house, on his way out he grabbed a pair of towels. “The water’s warm, so we can just swim in here.”   
Both the boys began to strip down to their most basic of clothing. Yukon dropped the towels on the ground with the rest of his clothes. The summer like climate of the immediate area did well to keep them from the cold.   
Yukon was stopped at a light color loincloth. White fabric contrasted to his olive brown skin. The half-elf’s darker skin tone was one of the most foreign traits to his appearance that Atreus found the most interest in. Now that Atreus had a well view of Yukon’s exposed skin, Atreus felt the urge to just reach out and touch the other boy’s body. To just feel his smooth, clear skin, it was just so different from what Atreus was used to with his own.   
Atreus wasn’t the only one with an eyeful of someone else. Yukon had taken in the details of Atreus’ appearance just the same.   
Now that they were outside, unlike when the two were inside the dark of his home, Yukon could see better the freckles and moles that gave texture to Atreus’ skin. The young giant was pale, even more so in the areas that never saw sunshine. His chest and things were practically translucent. Still, Atreus looked to have a distinct softness to his skin, the freckles only added to his overall cuteness.   
The only clothing that Atreus left on was a pair of brief like undergarments. They had a dark red color, much like the fabric that Atreus would always have around his waist.  
Neither boys minded that the other had been staring at them undress for the past few moments. Instead, the both just agreed to let the other look, they unconsciously knew they could look with their hands sometime later.  
“Ready to get into the water?” Yukon asked the other half naked boy in front of him.   
“Yeah.” Atreus let Yukon lead him into the water. Yukon held onto his hand as the stepped to where the water was only up to their waists.  
Yukon started to teach Atreus how to kick his move forward in the water. Yukon has his arms under the giant’s stomach to keep him afloat.   
The half elf let his eyes wander to the shorter boy’s bum. The water soaked fabric stuck to Atreus’ skin and left very little to the imagination. Yukon could easily see the curves of Ateus’ butt, the only thing Yukon couldn’t see was the color of the giant’s bare cheeks. The fabric was opaque as it sat form fitted to Atreus backside.   
Yukon would give anything to see the freckles of Atreus’ bum. Those were the only ones he hadn’t seen yet.   
When Yukon took Atreus to a point in the lake where they could no longer stand in the floor, both boys started to become closer. Atreus wrapped his arms around Yukon’s body, he wasn’t yet confident in his ability to keep him above the water.   
“Don’t let me drown” Atreus said nervously, as his grip onto Yukon only tightened.  
“I won’t let you drown Atreus.” Yukon responded and held the anxious boy closer to him. “I mean, I wouldn’t jump into a freezing lake, just to let you drown in this one.” His sentence was punctuated with a kiss placed on the shorter boy’s lips.  
Atreus enjoyed the kiss, but even more so, he loved the feeling of affection that Yukon gave him. Atreus always felt the good kind of nervous around Yukon, butterflies would always be in his stomach whenever he would hear Yukon say his name.   
The giant felt his face heat up when Yukon places a hand onto his butt. Yukon did take mind to keep the fabric in between his hand and the skin of Atreus’ bum. Still the cloth was so thin, it practically felt like nothing at all.   
Atreus could feel Yukon’s hard on through the his loincloth, he could feel his own boyhood poking at the taller boy’s stomach. The kiss itself grew more passionate, both boys trying to take in the most before they had to break away for air.   
“Do you … want to take this inside?” Atreus placed his hand onto Yukon’s hard-on and slowly stoked it through his loincloth.   
“Uh huh.” Yukon couldn’t even string together words for a response.  
The pair got out of the water and dried themselves off. Ironically, the warm air gave them a chance to cool off from each other.   
The two entered into the home built into the mountain side, both instinctively knowing to go into Yukon’s room. Neither of them even put back on their clothes, both left them in separate piles on the floor.   
Inside Yukon’s room, Atreus was the one to initiate any action. The archer pushed Yukon onto the bed and straddled himself on top of the taller boy. When Atreus began to make out with him, Yukon did not object. The half-elf gripped onto the butt of the semi naked boy in his lap. As Yukon groped Atreus, the giant only felt more encouraged to continue the passion filled kiss he shared with Yukon.   
Atreus felt like he was on fire, the hands on his butt, yet it did not give him any pain. He liked the feeling of warmth and heat that Yukon’s body gave him. Both of their chests were bare and they could both feel the other’s heartbeat. When they would have to break away from their kids for air, the two would still keep their bodies as close as possible.   
Eventually however, Atreus pulled his lips far away from Yukon’s, and looked into his eyes. He placed his hands gently onto Yukon’s chest, his gestures said that he wanted to talk.  
“Yukon I … I want to keep going, and I know you do too.” Atreus spoke between heavy breaths.  
“I do. I really want you.” Yukon nearly whined.   
“I know, I can feel your … your thing in between my cheeks.” Atreus called attention to his Yukon’s excited mass had made its way in between his cheeks. Though there were layers of fabric between them, Atreus could feel Yukon slide in between his cheeks. “And I can feel that you’re … big.” Atreus blushed.   
“Do you want to see it?”  
“I think I want to do more than just see it.”   
The pair began to alter their positions. Atreus got out of Yukon’s lap, while Yukon stayed seated on his bed. The shorter boy kneeled on his knees and was in between Yukon’s legs. His eyes level with the elf’s belly button.   
Atreus hooked his fingers into Yukon’s loincloth and pulled it down. The items was more or less a small pair of shorts with a rectangle of fabric in the front. Then Atreus was met with what he didn’t expect.   
Yukon wasn’t just big, he was huge.   
The elf’s mass flopped out and smacked Atreus in his face. The event made the taller boy giggle a bit. For Atreus however, his eyes only widened in surprise. The size was like nothing Atreus was used to with himself.   
Atreus gently griped it with one of his hands, his fist only made it halfway up the shaft. The sensation of Atreus’ hand made Yukon take in a sharp gasp of air.   
“Oh, sorry. Are my hands cold?” Atreus asked, he felt like he’d done something wrong.  
“No, your hands just feel really good.” Yukon responded. “Please, keep going.”  
The whole length must’ve been at least 8 inches, maybe even 9. (20.32 cm - 22.86 cm). It was thick too. Atreus could fit his hand around it like any regular person would a harvest vegetable. Cucumbers or such the like would come to the young boy’s mind when he even the large boyhood in front of him.   
Other than it’s size, Yukon also had a very strong smell. The elf’s natural musk was mixed with the sent of exotic oils that Atreus’ nose was not familiar with. Atreus however, liked it for some reason. He could not explain it, but he felt a somewhat primal attraction to the masculine smell of Yukon’s private region. He could feel his urges start to overwhelm him.   
Atreus started with a slow lick from the base of Yukon’s shaft and up to it’s tip. The action earned a deep moan from Yukon. The elf boy threw his head back in pleasure as Atreus continued. Atreus continued to coat Yukon’s boyhood in his saliva, his spit was warm and his tongue soft on the boy’s most sensitive organ. Yukon’s moans only encouraged him to continue.   
At one point, Atreus focused his attention onto the tip of Yukon’s member. He wrapped his tongue around the tip and sucked at it at the same time. He tasted Yukon’s precum and it almost acted like a kind of aphrodisiac. The bitter taste was overpowered by the lust and hunger for more Atreus was felt as he tasted more.   
The small giant took his actions to the next level when he began to take more of Yukon into his mouth. The first few inches were the easy ones, but Atreus had to quickly learn how to relax his throat when he took in more of Yukon’s mass. Atreus could taste more of Yukon’s precum in the back of his throat. His nose began to feel tickled by dark colored pubes when he took in the entire length into his mouth. Atreus could almost lick Yukon’s balls if his tongue wasn’t busy with the cock that filled his mouth.   
“Fuck!” The swear was all Yukon could manage to say. The soft warmth of Atreus’ mouth was like nothing he’d never felt before. Wet only began to describe how the giant’s throat felt around his cock. Better than jacking off was only an understatement.   
Atreus slowly pulled Yukon out of his mouth, not to plunge the massive length back into his throat again. The young archer would continue to bob his head up and down, he took advantage of his lack of gag reflex.   
“Atreus, I’m close.” Yukon took a fist of hair from the back of Atreus’ hair.  
The archer only kept up his quick pace as his sucked at Yukon’s cock in his mouth.  
“I’m-I’m cumming!” Yukon moaned out as he gripped the back of Atreus’ head and forced a deep throat.   
The elf spilled his hot seed into Atreus’ throat. The young hunter swallowed and drank the milky cum as it flowed into his mouth. The taste was salty, the substance was more than bitter in flavor, it stuck to the inside of his throat, and was difficult to swallow. But, for some reason, Atreus couldn’t get enough of it.   
After only a few seconds, Yukon had emptied his seed into Atreus’ mouth. The archer could feel when he was done and slowly pulled the elf’s dick out of his mouth. He stopped at the tip and focused his attention to suck the lingering drops of cum that when still there. The elf felt like he’d go insane from the pleasure, his tip being overwhelmingly sensitive because he’d just came.   
“Now, let me do you.” Yukon said.  
“Ok.”   
The young boy’s switched their positions, this time Yukon was the one on the floor ready to return the favor. Atreus hesitated when he started to pull down his own undergarments. Yukon interpreted this as the shorter boy only being a bit shy. The pulled the giant’s underwear over his thighs, down the length of his legs, and past his ankles. To finish the action off, Yukon tossed Atreus’ red undergarments into their piles of clothes.   
Atreus was now completely stark naked.   
The giant had many reason for his embarrassment at that moment. For one, he was naked for the first time I front of someone who hadn’t changed his diaper. His young pale legs showed that he’d normally never even be in this little of clothing, only when bathing would he ever let this much skin show. The another reason, was their size difference between the two boys.   
Atreus had always felt small throughout his entire life, the only people he’d known where adults, and the dwarves he’d met were still only his size. When he interacted with other children his own age he learned that he was a bit short for his age, Yukon being as tall as he was only did more to make the Jötnar feel small.   
But that wasn’t the size difference Atreus was focused of at that moment.   
Right now, Atreus felt like his own boyhood was too small to compete with the monster in between Yukon’s legs. Atreus had the average mass of his age, his 4 inch (10.16 cm) stood fully erect, and waited for Yukon to pleasure it.   
Atreus gasped when he felt the wet and warmth of Yukon’s mouth wrap around his most masculine body part. He couldn’t hold back his voice as he moaned and let out swears in response to Yukon’s mouth.   
Yukon had an easier time taking in the full length of Atreus’ mass into his throat. He would wrap his tongue around Atreus’ tip while sucking on it at the same time.   
Atreus could barely handle himself. He’d never experienced anything like this, the sensation of another boy’s mouth around him pushed him to his edge.   
“Yukon, ah, I’m close.” Atreus struggled to say through his moans.  
Instead of sucking his orgasm out like Atreus did, Yukon placed hand onto Atreus’ chest, and pushed him onto the bed. Atreus now laid on his back and could feel Yukon lift up his legs.   
When Atreus felt Yukon’s tongue over his entrance, he knew that he was in for something even better. Yukon started to lick at and probe Atreus’ hole with his tongue. The giant’s back entrance had a soft pink color, it was also clean and only tasted the same as the rest of Atreus.   
“Please don’t stop!” Atreus grabbed Yukon’s head and kept it in between his legs. “Fuck, I’m so close!” Atreus moaned out.   
He felt himself approach his climax. An overwhelming feeling of pleasure washed over him and he shot out his seed. Atreus spilled his seed onto his own stomach. Yukon didn’t let the boy’s thick cum go cold before he started to lick it up. The elf dragged his tongue all over Atreus abdomen to get every drop of the boy’s seed. When he lowered himself back to Atreus’ most sensitive area, Yukon licked the rest of the cum from his tip. He made sure not a drop remained.   
When Yukon stood up, he saw the mess of shivers and sweat that was the young hunter in front of him. Atreus was still sprawled out on the bed, his legs were far apart, and his member still erect in excitement.   
Coming down from the high of his orgasm, Atreus opened his eyes and they met by Yukon’s green ones.   
“What are you waiting for?” Atreus lifted his legs up himself. He put his hands onto his cheeks and spread himself so Yukon could get a better view of his entrance. “Go on.”   
Yukon might as well have tackled Atreus at that moment, he mounted the shorter boy so fast that is shocked them both.   
“Gods I want to fuck you so bad.” Yukon position himself right at the back entrance of the boy underneath him.   
Atreus wrapped his legs around Yukon and his hand around the elf’s neck. He tried to relax as he readied himself for the monster that would make its way inside him. But when Yukon tried to gently push his way into Atreus, the boy’s encountered an issue they should’ve expected.   
A fit issue.   
Yukon was just too big. The elf’s massive size was far too much for Atreus’ virgin hope to take. Atreus had experimented with his own hole before, but those times were only fingers. The whole time, he’d tried to just relax, but it wasn’t enough. Three fingers were the most he’d ever had inside himself, so of course Yukon’s huge member couldn’t fit inside.   
“Fuck! Yukon, stop!” Atreus yelled out.   
Yukon immediately stopped trying to probe Atreus and pulled himself away from the other boy. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Yukon sat next to Atreus on the bed. He placed the blame of Atreus’ pain Almon himself.  
“It’s not your fault.”   
“But you didn’t like it. I know it hurt.” Yukon responded. “You wouldn’t have yelled like that if it didn’t.”   
“We can always try again some other time. I’m just not ready to take you yet.”   
“You still wanna try it?”  
“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I really want you to fuck me. Everytime I imagine you inside me, I just can’t think straight.” Atreus explained. “And now that I’ve seen your dick, I can’t wait to feel it inside me. I know you want to be inside me too.”   
“As long as you don’t feel like it hurts, we can try again.”   
“Good, cause when it happens, I expect you to fuck me until I can’t even walk.” Atreus giggled.  
“Oh you won’t even feel your legs when I’m done with you.” Yukon gently tacked Atreus and started to place kisses onto the boy’s neck.  
The elf was tickled Atreus at the same time. Atreus could help his laughing reaction. Yukon would only stop to let Atreus breath, before he assaulted the archer more.   
Eventually the two were back in their missionary position again. Their boyhoods rubbed against each other and pressed against the other’s stomach.   
Atreus was the first to start to rock his hips into Yukon’s. The elf rocked his hips back into those of the boy underneath him. Yukon grabbed at Atreus’ waist and quicker his pace. Their wave like motions got more and more passionate as they continued. The only thing to stop them was their second orgasms of the day.   
Both shot their cum onto the giant’s chest and stomach. Yukon leaned down to clean up his mess again. Yukon collapsed next to his boyfriend, spent from their day’s activities.   
Atreus rolled over and placed a kiss onto the taller boy’s lips. Yukon pulled Atreus closer, one of his hands grabbed the other boy’s butt.   
“That was just as good right?” Atreus asked playfully.  
“I can’t lie, your pretty much the best.”   
The pair of boys laid on the bed for the next few hours, they even got under the covers to escape the cold air around them. They filled the time by talking to each other. In between their conversations was filled with their passionate kisses.   
When Atreus could feel that it was time to leave, he got out of the bed and started to redress himself. He didn’t mind that Yukon had unabashedly watched his butt the whole time got dressed.   
“You even have freckles on your butt. I think they're my favorites too.” Yukon commented.   
“You’ve said that about all of my freckles.”   
“Maybe I just like all of them. Maybe I just like you.”   
“Don’t worry then, you’ll get plenty of chances to see all of my freckles later.”  
“Well when is later?” Yukon started to dress himself too.   
“Whenever you want.”   
“What if I wanna see the ones on you butt right now?”  
Atreus pulled his pants down and gave Yukon a flash of his pale butt again. He let them fall to his ankles and even spread his cheeks to give the elf behind him a view of his soft pink hole.  
“Does this work?” Atreus responded.  
“Yeah, it does.” Yukon pressed Atreus against the wall from behind. The giant could feel the elf’s 8 inch (20.32 cm) cock hotdog him again.   
“Hey, I have to get going, remember?” Atreus reminded Yukon that he was supposed to leave at that moment.   
Yukon stepped away and let Atreus pull his pants back up. They continued to their usual routine of Yukon where Yukon leads Atreus out of the forest. Atreus shared a kiss with the elf before they parted ways. Yukon also didn’t forget to give Atreus his batch of the magic tea for the trees before he went back into his forest.   
Atreus arrived back at his home in the late evening again. He collapsed onto is bed much like he did last time and fell asleep. This time he went undisturbed because he was fully in his own clothes.   
Kratos could tell his son was tired from his day and decided to hold any questions for the boy for tomorrow. He’d wait until morning to ask the boy what he’d done that day to make him so tired again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For my lads who want some Atreus nsfw that isn’t him with Kratos.


	10. Solstånd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Celebration of the winter solstice.

Atreus and Yukon have grown closer as the next few weeks came to pass. Every few days, Atreus would go to visit his favorite half-elf in the woods. The newly made shortcut made trips to and from his house that much easier.  
Of course whenever the boys were alone together they would experiment further and further with each other. More and more they would explore the other’s body, just to see what made their partner feel good, make them feel more than the last time.  
However, as the winter reached its middle, a very special holiday had grown closer.  
The middle of winter is marked by the solstice. To celebrate the winter sun, many would hold groups of festive celebrations. From feasts, festivals, parties, and gift giving, people all over Midgard would celebrate the winter occasion.  
This year, Atreus wanted to have a more special celebration. For one, the boy wanted to honor his late mother Faye. He also wished to welcome the head of the smartest man in all the nine realms, into his family. Atreus even had a few guests in mind that he wished to invite into his home for an evening of food. His list included the dwarf brothers Sindri and Brok, and also had the elf boy Yukon.  
A very important problem came to mind when Atreus had the idea to have all these people for the night of the winter solstice however. How was Atreus to feed all these people? For the duration of winter, the home would only ever have enough to feed those within the home. Himself and his father the only two whoever ate.  
The market of the town by the oceans shore was Atreus’ only way to gather enough to feed all of his guests.  
Atreus also didn’t know if his father would even want to have anyone over. There was only one way to find out of course.  
“Father?” Atreus addressed the retired spartan.  
“What is it boy?”  
“Can we have the dwarves over for a dinner on the night of the Solstånd?”  
“You wish to have the two dwarven brothers as guests, but how is it that you plan to feed them?” Kratos made reference to how the house only ever had enough for two.  
“We could tell them both to bring something” Mimir commented.  
“Yeah, that could work.” Atreus agreed. “And we can go to the port town to by ingredients.”  
“You have put a lot of thought into this.”  
“Of course I have.”  
“Then we can go as soon at tomorrow if you wish.”  
“That’d be great, thanks father.”  
The next day Atreas and Kratos would make their way to the town’s market. They traded the hides of animals and the rare items from powerful beasts for the produce of the town. The two also exchanged money for commerce as well.  
After they would find the nearest shop post of the dwarve brothers.  
“Well if it isn’t the angry man and his sack-seed!” Brok was the first to greet them.  
“Ugh!” Sindri gauged. “You both smell like fish.”  
“It’s good to you to guys too” Atreus replied.  
“So what do you fucks want. We’ve got new wears if you’re interested.”  
“Plate armor from a bit to the south. Gorgeously clay tempered steel.” Sindri added.  
“No thanks. We—well, I actually wanted to invite you guys for dinner.”  
“Dinner?” The brothers said in unison.  
“For Solstånd. It’d be great if you two would come enjoy it with us.” Atreus said with a smile.  
“You know what? Fuck it, I’ll go”  
“I will attend as well.”  
“Be sure to remind them to show up with something to eat.” Mimir said to Atreus.  
“Right, I almost forgot. Can you both bring something for the feast?”  
“Oh I know just what to bring.” Sindri responded.  
“You do? Well that’s a relief, ‘cause I fucking don’t.”  
“See you both in a few days!” Atreus waved as him and his father made their way back to their home.  
“Come back whenever soon!”  
“Or not, doesn’t make any fucking difference.” The brothers called back. 

Upon their return home, Atreus used the rest of the day to prepare the ingredients to be cooked. Atreus out care into how he washed and shaved the vegetables and fruits. The young boy spent so much time with his mother that he knew much of her recipes.  
However, Atreus still had one more person he wanted to invite into his home. He was understandably nervous to ask his father to allow a stranger from the woods into their home.  
“Father? Could we have just one more person over?”  
“Who is it that you have in mind?”  
“I wanted Yukon to come over for Solstånd. I know he’d like to come too.”  
“I will allow it.”  
“Really?” Atreas didn’t expect that to be that easy.  
“Yes, you have proven to me that he can be trusted, and I do not sense a threat behind his actions.” The father elaborated. “And … I am very aware of your feelings towards him.”  
“Thank you father.” Atreas embraced the old man with both of his arms. “There’s still a bit of daylight left. We should be able to get to his house and back before the chills of the night.”  
“His home takes hours to go to and back from.”  
“Well, not exactly.”  
Kratos raised an eyebrow.  
“I’m just trying to say that I found a shortcut between his home and ours. It makes the round trip less than half an hour.”  
“Alright.” Kratos walked out the house with his son. “Lead the way boy.”  
Atreus lead his father through the spruce wood forest. With no time at all, the two were in front of Yukon’s home. The young archer knocked on the elf’s door, and called out for him to answer.  
“Hey Atreus, I see you brought your da too.” Yukon greeted them.  
“It’s good to see you.” Atreus greeted him back with a hug.  
“So what are the both of you doing here?”  
“I just stopped by to invite you to our Solstånd feast.”  
“You want me to bring something for the table?”  
“Yeah, bring whatever just make it so it can feed five.”  
“Will do.” Yukon placed a kiss onto Atreus’ cheek before the father and son made their way back home. 

The next day was the day of Solstånd. Atreus was filled with the enthusiasm of a child, though his father was a mal-faced as usual. The young boy and his father shared all of their time indoors cooking. Much of the food were dishes that the two would not make normally. The absence of Faye was reminded by how well Atreus remembered her recipes. Though, the end products showed a bit of inexperienced that came with the small giant’s young age.  
The home’s oven and stove were occupied by large pans and pots of cooking foods. It was soon within the day that a knock was heard on the door.  
Atreus quickly whipped off flour and vegetable juices from his hands onto a towel, before he answered the door. He was happy to be greeted by his friend Yukon.  
“Hey Yukon” Atreus was quick to embrace the half elf.  
“Good morning Atreus. What’s that smell?” Yukon returned the hug.  
“We still have lots of stuff to finish cooking before tonight.”  
“I see. Where do you want me to put this?” Yukon showed Atreus a large pan made of clay, it was covered with fabric, but Atreus still smelled that it was good.  
“You can just put that … Uhh…” Atreus lead Yukon into the house and paused when they came upon the table. Unfortunately it was already populated by the multiple ingredients and dishes that young giant had used to cook. “Here.” Atreus opted to move some stuff around on the stove for Yukon to put his item.  
“You want some help cleaning this place up a bit?”  
“That’d help a lot. We really need to clear some space up on the table and stove.”  
The table and stove were cleared in practically no time at all. To cure their boredom, the boys decided to decorate the house for the winter occasion. Yukon’s talent for vanir magic proved useful when they hung holly and reefs all over the cabin. The bells from evergreens gave lovely green accents to the outside of the home. They smelled nice too.  
“Excellent work lads. Takes me back to when I would see people decorating for winter holidays in the lands I used to live in.” Mimir complimented.  
“Thanks Mimir” The boys said in unison. 

A short while after the boys had finished the decorations a pair of dwarven brothers arrived. Brokk and Sindri carried baskets with fabric covers over them.  
“Well if it isn’t the little giant!” Brokk called out to them.  
“Greetings” Sindri added.  
“Sindri Brokk! So glad you guys could come. Come inside.” Atreus lead the two inside where his father and Mimir had stayed relaxing by the fire.  
“Smells great.” Sindri said. “Is that Faye’s winter cinnamon pie?”  
“Yeah, it is. I just hope I made it as as she used to.” Atreus answered.  
“Roast doesn’t smell half bad neither. That you too?” Brokk asked.  
“Yup. I made all this stuff. Father helped though.”  
“All this talk of food s’making me hungry. Why don’t we start eatin’ it already?”  
The table only took a few moments to set up. Especially since all the people in the home helped to spread out the dishes and utensils. The food was all uncovered and ready for the people around the table to eat.  
However, before anyone sat down at the table, they had to say a prayer to one very special woman.  
Atreus was the one to give a very heartfelt poem to his mother who had passed that same year. 

Lo there do I see my mother  
Lo there do I see my mother  
Lo there do I see a line from me to the beginnings of my ancestors. I see her with all of them in the afterlife did those most loved  
Lo they call to me, I know they watch over to see is live well  
May she have peace amongst the dead  
Lo there will we all remember her, that way she may live forever

The words seemed to bring one of them to near tears. Though when everyone rose their heads and opened their eyes, no one was seen crying.  
Just as quickly as Atreus had finished, everyone swiftly took a seat and began to fill their plates.  
The table was sat Brokk and Sindri on one side. One of the dwarves was careful in how he acquired food, he ate with the proper utensils, and was sure to keep anything from getting on him. His brother however did not even bother with a knife and fork. Instead his simply used his hands and and ate without a care of staining his apron.  
On the other side was Atreus with Yukon sat next to him. The young elf sat close to the giant and the two kept a conversation between them. To his left. Atreus also had the head of Mimir, with care he spoon fed the man when he asked.  
At the head of the table sat Kratos. His face rested with stoicism and did not show how he felt happy to see the people who appreciated Faye in his home. On this rare occasion Kratos was more than content with his evening.  
Throughout the feast, everyone told their favorite stories of Faye.  
Sindri told one of when Faye had accidentally gotten her hand stuck in a jar when she tried to get sweets from the inside. Brokk told one of when she’d forgotten the word for her axe and instead called it a “tree decapitation sword”. Kratos even told one of when Faye had mistaken sugar for salt and when baking a cake, she nearly poisoned them both.  
For those who never got the chance to meet Faye, they had the pleasure of hearing all the genuine stories of how great she was. Mimir and Yukon could easily tell that she must have been quite the person to be around when she was alive. She must’ve been real wonderful. Yukon thought to himself.  
When Yukon spoke to Atreus individually, he got some insight on where the all the food for this feast came from.  
“I spent pretty much all of my time with my mother. Especially when we were both in the house. While cooking I would just watch the whole time, most times in help.”  
“So you just know her recipes?”  
“Basically, I just need more time to really make them as good as she used to.”  
“I think it all tastes pretty great. I really like the cinnamon pie.”  
“Thanks. I’m glad I was able to find raw vanilla in the town so we could make it.”  
The young boys continued to chat with each other until late in the evening. It even prompted a few questions from the dwarves across the table.  
“That friend of yours” Brokk  
noticed how close together they’d been sitting. “You two look … comfortable.”  
“I think it’s kinda cute.” Sindri added. “The taller one’s the only other person I saw wash his hands before eating.”  
“I don’t mean nothin’ by it, but … you two look a bit close for two boys”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Atreas seemed ready to defend himself.  
Brokk saw out the corner of his eye Kratos stared daggers into him. The retired spartan’s eyes looked as though they could catch a person on fire. “Like I said, nothin.” Brokk replied.  
The demigods tried to ignore Brokk’s comment. Instead they both retreated back into the conversation. Of course, Atreus and Yukon weren’t talking about much of anything.

 

The evening continued without any other conflict. Everyone had begun to finish their third helpings and the dwarf brothers prepared to leave. However, they both had a gift they wanted to give the resident gods.  
“Oh, before we leave, we wanted to give you two something.” Sindri said. “For Atreus we’ve these.” Sindri first pulled a wooden broadsword that looked to be just about his size. “  
“A training sword, so the boy can get a chance to learn close combat.” Brokk added.  
“And when he’s outgrown that” Sindri began to pull out a large claymore from his satchel.  
“Whoa! That thing’s huge.” Atreus was amazed by the size of the weapon.  
“How is the boy to learn to use such a large weapon?” Kratos asked.  
“Yeah, it seems a bit too big for me.”  
“That’s the the thing we were about to address. The sword changes size.” Sindri demonstrated how the claymore could become both smaller and longer when one ran their hand above it. “This way you can change it between a regular broadsword and a claymore fit for a man twice your size.”  
“That’s so cool! Thanks you guys.”  
“You’re welcome pint size” Brokk replied. “And for the big guy, we were able to find this.” From his own bag Brokk pulled out a well sized jar. The outside had rectangular swirls across it, it even had hand painted scenes on it too.  
“Is that?” Kratos was intrigued  
“It is. Ethickan wine, from the island of Ethicka.” Brokk replied.  
“You mean Ithaca” Kratos corrected.  
“Sure, whatever you said.”  
“We came across it when going through one of Tyr’s temples. Surprising to find it in such good condition.”  
“Thank you” Kratos opened the clay jar and smelled its contents.  
“Wait, you’re not actually gonna drink that are you?” Sindri gauged “that stuff’s been sitting who-knows-where for who-knows-how-long.”  
“Wine can stay good for quite a while.”  
“I can’t watch this.” Sindri held back the contents of his stomach. “We’ll see you two later.”  
“Bye you two.” Brokk said as they exited the home.  
The house quieted down and gave those still inside a chance to clean up the table. Kratos took all of the left over food and stored away for later. The man made sure that not a spoon full of anything was left on any of the dishes. Atreas loaded all of the kitchenware into a large basin, so that they could be cleaned later. Yukon even wiped the table down and put all the chairs neatly under it. Within about an hour, the house didn’t appear as though a feast had transpired at all.  
“Thanks for helping us clean up Yukon.” Atreus showed his appreciation with a small peck on Yukon’s cheek.  
“Aww, don’t mention it” Yukon’s face took on a light wash of pink. “I’d stay longer, but I should get home before it gets dark.”  
Yukon returned the kiss Atreus had given him before he attempted to leave. The obstacle in his path however, was a snow storm outside the door. The elf could hardly see three feet into front of him when he opened the door.  
“I think you might wanna wait until that BLOWS over” Atreus closed the door. “Father? He can stay until the storm COOLS down right?”  
“Only for as long as it is necessary. He should return to his own home as soon as possible.” Kratos replied.  
“Ok, but I’m gonna need you to stop making puns.”  
“C’mon, don’t be so COLD hearted.”  
“...”  
“I think we could have an ICE time in here together.” Atreas grinned from ear-to-ear while he delivered his jokes. He clearly thought that they were comedic genius.  
“I’d rather freeze to death than hear you make another ice pun.”  
“Oh that SNOW way to act right now.”  
“...” Yukon disliked that he enjoyed Atreus’ humor.  
“Oh come on. You liked that one.”  
“I know I did, and I hate it.”  
“Well, I’m all out of puns now. You wanna play a boardgame?” Atreus sat down and pulled out a collection of miscellaneous objects. “We can play this one game that Mimir taught me how to play. We can all play it together.” Atreus looked at his father and expected the man to sit down with them.  
Kratos had no better tasks for the evening. The men, young and old, all sat in a small circle on the floor near the fire in the home for warmth. The young couple sat in a way that was much closer than anyone else at that time. Atreus sat in Yukon’s lap, as the elf was the taller of the two boys. Yukon even wrapped his arms around Atreus’ waist for a gentle hug.  
“First we all need to roll these dice to decide who in the king.” Atreus pulled out dice carved from wood and proceeded to teach his father and friend how to play.  
For the next few hours the men inside the home enjoyed a lengthy game. Towards the end of the game, Atreus remembered something that he wanted to do before Yukon were to leave.  
“Yukon, I wanted to give you something before you leave, but it looks like you’ll be here a while, so I might as well give it to you now.”  
From his bed Atreus pulled out an amateurly knitted scarf. Some of the sections of the object looser than others, some looked like they were done over a dozen times. Nonetheless, the gift was obviously made with care. It showed that whoever made it spent all the time they could in its creation. It was a cute light green color with white snowflakes on it.  
“I made this for you, but it’s not that good.” Atreus was embarrassed with the gift’a appearance.  
“I love it!” Yukon immediately wrapped the items around his neck, even if he didn’t need it at the moment.  
“I made one for you too father. It’s not much of a surprise though, you’ve seen me making them.” Atreus have a similar looking scarf, only this one was in red. The giant knew it was his father’s favorite color.  
“Thank you.” Kratos hung the fabric on the frame of his bed.  
“I didn’t forget about you Mimir, don’t worry.” Atreus have Mimir the only article of clothing that he could wear. A hat.  
Atreus made a wool hat for the severed head to keep warm during the winter. This one was Mimir’s favorite color of orange.  
“What wonderful gifts lad. I’m sure we’ll all be able to make good use of them in the future.” Mimir gave Atreus his well deserved praise.  
“I’m glad you guys liked them.”  
Atreus smiled. The giant was even more happy when Yukon gave him a kiss on the cheek.  
“With that out of the way—“ Atreus interrupted his own sentence with a yawn. “We can finish the game.”  
“While I’d love for the day to last a bit longer, I think it is getting a bit late.” Mimir said. “I think it’s time we all called it a night.”  
The story outside was still in full swing. Loud whistles of the wind whipped around the house. Atreas knew that outside was of no condition for Yukon to leave.  
“So where’s Yukon going to sleep?”  
“We can lay some skins and such on the floor so that he can rest there until the storm passes.” Kratos answered.  
“Now way, that’d be way to uncomfortable. How about he just sleep in my bed tonight?”  
“You bed wasn’t built for two.”  
“But we could make it work. Right, Yukon?”  
“Uh, yeah, I don’t see why not.” Yukon started to take on a familiar shade of pink over his face. The thought of sleeping so close to Atreus in the same bed got him a bit excited.  
“See, it’ll be fine.” Atreus assured his father.”  
Getting themselves ready for bed didn’t take the men many steps. All they did was remove a few layers of clothing, in order to get more comfortable for sleeping under layers of wool and animal skins. Kratos only took of his armaments before he climbed into his bed. Atreus stripped down to the basics of his outfit. A teal colored tunic and a pair of trousers that weren’t met to be worn outside on their own. Yukon was down to only his own dark green tunic and a pair of lightly colored pants.  
The pair climbed into the bed together and took a moment to find a comfortable position together. They settled on Atreas being the little spoon while Yukon was the big one. Their bodies had become so close together that one could feel the other’s heartbeat, hear the other’s breathing, as they slowly drifted off to sleep.  
Of course, the two were still boy young boys, and they were playing with the other’s feet with their own. Mainly it was Yukon who tickled Atreus with his toes, which prompted some giggles from the smaller boy. The small giant tried his best to keep himself from falling into laughter as Yukon tickled at his stomach.  
“Sleep.” Kratos sounded annoyed by the noise the young boys had made.  
Atreus and Yukon obeyed and were swift in actual falling to sleep. The shorter boy slept soundly with the arms of his elf friend around his body. He liked the feeling as though someone were protecting him.  
Atreas also enjoyed the feeling of Yukon’s length pressed against his backside. 

 

The night went on peacefully and quite, only the textured winds outside to give any sound to the home.  
Kratos was the first to wake up, he prepared for his average morning routine. When he went to wake up his son and the elf that slept in the bed with him, he was met with a pleasant surprise. He saw his son still fast asleep in the young elf’s arms. Both boys snuggled to keep each other warm and even more so for the fun of it. Upon a closer inspection, Kratos could see a spread all the way across Atreus’ face. It was obvious that he was more than content in sharing his bed with the other boy. When Kratos observed Yukon, he could see that the elf cleary reciprocated Atreus feelings. The young elf had a gentle smile on his face as well and slept soundly with the giant in his arms.  
“Cute aren’t they?” Mimir said softly, he didn’t want to wake up the boys.  
“...”  
“Y’know, at first I thought that Atreus simply had a crush on the Alfheimian lad, just a simple puppy love. But now, I think those two could be ideal matches for each other.”  
Kratos hesitated for a moment before he responded. “I’m happy for him. The boy is happy, content with the other.”  
Before now, Kratos hadn’t ever thought about the consequences this isolation had on him. Atreus never had any companions, the closest person in his life was gone, so of course the boy felt alone. Kratos at first didn’t think Atreus needed the social interaction, he himself didn’t experience a full childhood with his spartan training. However, Kratos had to remember that Atreus wasn’t him, not as strong, as reserved, experienced; at least not in the same way.  
“Atreus being happy is all I could wish for.” Kratos finished.  
“I second that.” Mimir commented. “Never did I have much of a family, but I’d like to think of this little lad as a the nephew of the brother I never had.”  
Kratos took Mimir’s head, and tied the ropes on it to his waist. Fully clothed and armed, Kratos went for the exit, he paused only to put on the scarf Atreus had made for him. He left outside with only Atreus and his companion inside. 

A few moments passed before either of the boys spoke up.  
“Are they gone?” Yukon asked.  
“Yeah, I heard his footsteps and the door closing.” Atreus slowly opened his eyes.  
Without any urgency, the pair got up from their cuddled position to greet the morning. Ateus stretched his arms and back, he reached for the sealing which caused his back to arch. Yukon got up from the bed and woke up his body when he reached for the sealing as well.  
“What do you wanna do now that we’re alone?”  
“The storm’s gone, so I think I’d better head back home.”  
“Aww” Atreus pouted. “You think I could tag along?”  
“I don’t see why not, you just gotta ask your dad first, right?”  
“Yeah, I do.” Atreus got up from the bed, and dressed himself to go outside.  
Yukon did the same, he made sure to put on the new scarf he’d gotten the previous night.  
Outside the home, Kratos was chopped wood and stored meat into jars in the snow, so they wouldn’t spoil.  
“Yes, you may.” Kratos said.  
“But, I didn’t ask anything yet” Atreus was a bit confused.  
“You were going to ask if you could venture to the elf’s abode for the day.”  
“But, how’d you know?”  
“It the only thing you’ve asked for since you’ve meet him.”  
“Well, whatever you say father.” Atreus walked away with his hand clasped in Yukon’s. “I’ll be back before sundown!” Atreus yelled back to his father as he walked down a path away from the home.  
On their way to Yukon’s home, the elf used the opportunity to bring up a necessary topic of discussion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a bit longer to finish, but I hope it was worth the wait.


End file.
